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ANCIENT HISTORY 



FOR 



COLLEGES AND HIGH SCHOOLS. 



»- BY 

P^ V.' N- MYERS, 



Acting Professor of History and Political Economy in the University 

OF Cincinnati; Author of "Medieval and Modern History," 

and " A General History." 



Part II. 
A HISTORY OF ROME. 




BOSTON, U.S.A. : 

PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY. 

1890. 



^6 



0^. 




\«^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by 

P. V. N. MYERS, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



All Rights Reserved. 



Typography by J. S. Cushing & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 
Presswork by Ginn & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 



PREFACE TO PART SECOND. 



Two years ago I gave to the school public a revised edition 
of that part of my Outlines of Ancient History^ first pub- 
lished in 1882, which covered the Eastern nations and Greece. 
At the request of my publishers, I have since revised the remain- 
ing portion of the book, that relating to Rome, and now give it 
out as a companion work to the earlier volume. 

From the preface of the original work, I repeat my grateful 
acknowledgment of indebtedness to the following writers and 
works : Arnold's, Mommsen's, Niebuhr's, Merivale's, Liddell's, 
Gibbon's, and Leighton's histories of Rome ; Long's Decline 
and Fall of the Roman Republic ; Smith's Rome and Carthage ; 
Froude's Ccesar ; Guhl and Koner's Life of the Greeks and 
Romans ; Hadley's Introduction to Roman Law ; and Dunlop's 
and Cruttwell's works on Roman Literature. References to 
other authorities that I have used in the revision of the work 
will be found in place, in foot-notes. For the correction, or 
the further elucidation, of several matters relating to Roman 
antiquities, I am especially indebted to Lanciani's admirable 
work, Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries, 

Mrs. Margaret Andrews Allen — widow of the late Professor 
William F. Allen, to whom it is my privilege to refer as my 
friend and associate in the preparation of Allen and Myers* 
Ancient History — has very kindly co-operated with me in the 

iii 



iv PREFACE. 

preparation of the book, to the extent of furnishing from her 
husband's Short History of the Ro7nan People all the maps and 
the larger part of the cuts. A few of the illustrations have 
been engraved from photographs expressly for the present work. 
Respecting the charts and cuts from Professor Allen's book, I 
quote from the preface the following explanation, made in his 
name : " Particular care was taken in the selection of maps 
and illustrations. The colored maps are reproductions of the 
charts accompanying Professor Freeman's Historical Geography 
of Europe. The cuts are from Prang's Illustrations of the His- 
tory of Art, Jaegar's Weltgeschichtey and other equally good 
authorities." 

P. V. N. M. 

College Hill, Ohio, 
July, 1890. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface « iii 

List of Illustrations _ . , vii 

List of Maps ..... ix 

Tables and Chronological Summaries. ix 

Part II. 
history op rome. 

CHAPTER 

I. The Roman Kingdom (Legendary date, 753-509 B.C.) I 

II. The Early Roman Repubhc : Conquest of Italy (509-264 B.C.) . . 21 

III. The First Punic War (264-241 B.C.) 42 

IV. The Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.) 52 

V. The Third Punic War (149-146 B.C.) 69 

VI. The Last Century of the Roman Republic (133-31 B.C.) 77 

VII. The Last Century of the Roman Republic — concluded (133-31 

B.C.) 93 

VIII. The Roman Empire (from 31 B.C. to a.d. 180) 119 

IX. The Roman Empire — cojtchided : Paganism and Christianity; the 

Barbarian Invasions (A.D, 180-476) 144 

X. Architecture, Literature, Law, and Social Life among the Romans 1 7^ 

Index and Pronouncing Vocabulary 223 

V 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

1. The Roman Forum Frontispiece 

2. View of the Capitoline, with the Cloaca Maxima 7 

3. Head of Janus 11 

4. A Vestal Virgin 12 

5. Suovetaurilia 15 

6. Lictors 22 

7. Etruscan Archer 31 

8. Roman Soldier 31 

9. Samnite Warrior , - 37 

10. The Column of Duillius 47 

1 1 . Hannibal 58 

12. Marcellus (coin) 65 

13. Publius Cornelius Scipio 67 

14. Philip V. of Macedonia (coin) 69 

15. Antiochus the Great (coin) 70 

16. Perseus of Macedonia (coin) 71 

1 7. Coin of the Italian Confederacy 86 

18. Marius 88 

19. Mithradates the Great (coin) 97 

20. Mark Antony in 

2 1 . Julius Caesar 112 

22. Augustus (statue) 1 20 

23. Tiberius 1 24 

24. Coin of Vespasian 132 

25. Triumphal Procession from the Arch of Titus , 133 

26. Street in Pompeii , » . . . 1 34 



viil LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

27. Trajan , , 136 

28. Scene from Trajan's Column 137 

29. Hadrian , , 138 

30. Antoninus Pius (coin) 140 

31. Commodus I44 

32. Praetorians , I45 

2,2). Caracalla 147 

34. Triumph of Sapor over Valerian 149 

35. Diocletian 151 

36. Christ as the Good Shepherd (from the Catacombs) 153 

y]. Sarcophagus of Cornelius Scipio Barbatus. 172 

38. Ruins of Theatre 177 

39. The Colosseum 1 78 

40. The Via Appia 180 

41. The Claudian Aqueduct 182 

42. Arch of Constantine 187 

43. Cicero 205 

44. Seneca 209 

45. Gladiators .....= 219 



LIST OF COLORED MAPS. 



PAGE 



1. Italy before the Growth of the Roman Power • 2 

2. The Mediterranean Lands, at the Beginning of the Second Punic 

War 52 

3. The Roman Dominions, at the End of the Mithradatic War 96 

4. The Roman Empire, at the Death of Augustus 122 

5. The Roman Empire under Trajan .... 134 

6. The Roman Empire divided into Prcefectures. ... 154 



LIST OF SKETCH-MAPS. 

1. Rome under the Kings . . 8 

2. The Ager Romanus (b.c. 450) ... 29 

3. The Ager Romanus (b.c. 338) 36 

4. Central Italy, at the Time of the Second Punic W^ar 57 

5. Plan of the Battle of Cannae 62 

6. Rome under the Empire 143 



TABLES AND CHRONOLOCxICAL SUMMARIES. 

1. Chronological Summary of Roman History to the End of the Republic 118 

2. Table of Roman Emperors from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius 142 

3. Table of Roman Emperors from Commodus to Romulus Augustus. . . 173 



Part II. 

HISTORY OF ROME. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ROMAN KINGDOM. 

(Legendary date, 753-509 B.C.) 

Divisions of Italy. — The peninsula of Italy divides itself into 
three parts, — Northern, Central, and Southern Italy. The first 
comprises the great basin of the Po, lying between the Alps and 
the Apennines.^ In ancient times this part of Italy included three 
districts, — Liguria, Gallia Cisalpina, and Venetia. The first em- 
braced the southwestern and the last the northeastern part of 
Northern Italy. Gallia Cisalpina lay between these two districts, 
occupying the finest portion of the valley of the Po. It received 
its name, which means " Gaul on this (the Italian) side of the 
Alps," from the Gallic tribes that about the fifth century before 
our era found their way over the mountains and settled upon these 
rich lands. 

The countries of Central Italy were Etruria, Latium, and Cam- 
pania, facing the Western, or Tuscan Sea ; Umbria and Picenum, 
looking out over the Eastern, or Adriatic Sea j and Samnium and 
the country of the Sabines, occupying the rough mountain districts 
of the Apennines. 

Southern Italy comprised the districts of Apulia, Lucania, 
Calabria, and Bruttium. Calabria formed the " heel," and Brut- 
tium the " toe," of the peninsula. The coast region of Southern 
Italy, as we have already learned, was called Magna Graecia, or 

^ It should be noted that the Italy of early times did not embrace the north- 
ern part of the peninsula. 

I 



2 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. 

" Great Greece," on account of the number and importance of the 
Greek cities that during the period of Hellenic supremacy were 
estabhshed on these shores. 

The large island of Sicily, lying just off the mainland on the 
south, may be regarded simply as a detached fragment of Italy, 
so intimately has its destiny been connected with that of the penin- 
sula. In ancient times it was the meeting-place and battle-ground 
of the Carthaginians, the Greeks, and the Romans. 

Mountains and Rivers. — Italy, like the other two peninsulas 
of Southern Europe, Greece and Spain, has a high mountain bar- 
rier, the Alps, along its northern frontier. Cicero once said that 
the gods had raised this wall to protect the peninsula from the 
northern barbarians. If such was the purpose of the celestial 
mountain-builders, it was a strange oversight on their part that 
they should have left a great gap in the Eastern, or Julian Alps ; 
for here is a low pass, through which the barbarians, as we shall 
see, often poured like a devastating flood into Italy. 

Corresponding to the Pindus range in Greece, the Apennines 
run as a great central ridge through the entire length of the pen- 
insula. 

Italy has only one really great river, the Yo {Padus) , \^\i\Qh 
drains the large northern valley lying between the Alps and the 
Apennines. The streams running down the eastern slope of the 
Apennines are short and of little volume. Among them the Rubi- 
con, the Metaurus, and the Aufidus are connected with great 
matters of history. Into the Rubicon it was that Caesar plunged 
whei>^j^,he. cast the die for the empire of the world; upon the 
Metaurus, Sasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, was defeated in 
the Second Punic War ; and on the banks of the Aufidus was 
fought the great battle of Cannae. 

Among the rivers draining the western slopes of the Apennines, 
the one possessing the greatest historic interest is the Tiber, on 
the banks of which Rome arose. North of this stream is the 
Arno i^Arnus) ^ vAixok). watered a part of the old Etruria; and 
south of it, the Liris, one of the chief rivers of Campania. 



EARLY INHABITANTS OF ITALY. 3 

Early Inhabitants of Italy. — There were, in early times, three 
chief races in Italy, — the ItaHans, the Etruscans, and the Greeks.^ 
The Italians, a branch of the Aryan family, embraced two principal 
stocks, — the Latin and the Umbro-Sabellian (Umbrians, Sabines, 
Samnites, Lucanians, etc.), — the various tribes or nations of which 
occupied nearly all Central, and a considerable part of Southern, 
Italy. The Etruscans, a wealthy, cultured, and maritime people of 
uncertain race, dwelt in Etruria, now Tuscany. They here formed 
a league of twelve cities, and before the rise of the Roman people 
were the leading race in the peninsula. Numerous works of art 
— such as tombs, fragments of walls, massive dikes to keep back 
the sea, and long tunnels piercing the sides of hills to drain the 
lakes lying in the craters of extinct volcanoes — show the advance 
in civilization they had made at a very remote date. 

Some five hundred years B.C. the Gauls came over the Alps, 
pressed the Etrurians out of Northern Italy, into which quarter 
they had extended their power, and settling in those regions, 
became the most formidable enemies of the infant republic of 
Rome. Of the establishment of the Greek cities in Southern 
Italy we have already learned in connection with Grecian history. 

The Latins. — Most important of all the Italian peoples were 
the Latins, who dwelt in Latium, between the Tiber and the Liris. 
These people, like all the Italians, were near kindred of the Greeks, 
and brought with them into Italy those same customs, manners, 
beliefs, and institutions that we have seen to have been the 
common possession of the various branches of the Aryan house- 
hold.^ Their life was, for the most part, that of shepherds and 
farmers. There are said to have been in Latium in early times 
thirty towns, which formed an alliance, known as the Latin League. 
The city which first assumed importance and leadership among 
the towns of this confederation was Alba Longa, the ^' Long White 

1 Besides these principal races there were the lapygians in Calabria, and 
the Venetians and the Ligurians in the north of the peninsula. The Ligurians 
were of non-Aryan race, but the others were seemingly of Aryan relationship. 

2 See Eastern Nations and Greece, p. lo. 



4 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. 

City," SO called because its buildings stretched for a great distance 
along the summit of a whitish ridge. 

The Beginnings of Rome. — The place of pre-eminence among 
the Latin towns was soon lost by Alba Longa, and gained by 
another city. This was Rome, the stronghold of the Ramnes, or 
Romans, located upon a low hill on the south bank of the Tiber, 
about fifteen miles from the sea. 

The traditions of the Romans place the founding of their city 
in the year 753 B.C. The town was estabhshed, it would seem, 
as an outpost to guard the northern frontier of Latium against the 
Etruscans. 

Recent excavations have revealed the foundations of the old 
walls and two of the ancient gates. We thus learn that the city 
at first covered only the top of the Palatine Hill, one of a cluster 
of low eminences close to the Tiber, which, finally embraced 
within the limits of the growing city, became the famed "Seven 
Hills of Rome." From the shape of its enclosing walls, the origi- 
nal city was called Roma Quadrata, or " Square Rome." 

The Early Roman State : King, Senate, and Popular Assem- 
bly. — The early Roman state seems to have been formed by the 
union of three communities.^ These constituted three tribes, 
known as Ramnes (the Romans proper, who gave name to the 
mixed people), Titles, and Luceres. Each of these tribes was 
divided into ten wards, or districts {curicE) ; each ward was 
made up of gentes, or clans, and each clan was composed of a 
number of famiUes. The heads of these families were called 
patres, or "fathers," and all the members patricians; that is, 
"children of the fathers." 

At the head of the nation stood the King, who was the father 
of the state. He was at once ruler of the people, commander of 

1 Compare the beginning of Rome with that of Athens, Eastern Nations 
and Greece, p. 200: "The synoikismos [union of several communities, as in 
the present case] did not necessarily involve an actual settlement together at 
one spot; but while each resided as formerly on his own land, there was 
thenceforth only one council-hall and court-house for the whole." — MoMMSEN. 



CLASSES OF SOCIETY. 5 

the army, judge and high priest of the nation, with absolute power 
as to hfe, and death. 

Next to the king stood the Senate, or " council of the old men," 
composed of the ^' fathers," or heads of the families. This coun- 
cil had no power to enact laws : the duty of its members was 
simply to advise with the king, who was free to follow or to disre- 
gard their suggestions. 

The Popular Assembly {comitia curiata) comprised all the citi- 
zens of Rome ; that is, all the members of the patrician families 
old enough to bear arms. It was this body that enacted the laws 
of the state, determined upon peace or war, and also elected the 
king. 

Classes of Society. — The two important classes of the popu- 
lation of Rome under the kingdom and the early republic were 
the patricians and. the plebeians. The former were the members 
of the three original tribes that made up the Roman people, and 
at first alone possessed political rights. They were proud, exclu- 
sive, and tenacious of their inherited privileges. The latter were 
made up chiefly of the inhabitants of subjected cities, and of refu- 
gees from various quarters that had sought an asylum at Rome. 
They were free to acquire property, and enjoyed personal freedom, 
but at first had no political rights whatever. The greater number 
were petty land-owners, who held and cultivated the soil about the 
city. A large part of the early history of Rome is simply the 
narration of the struggles of this class to secure social and political 
equality with the patricians. 

Besides these two principal orders, there were two other classes, 
— clients and slaves. The former were attached to the families 
of patricians, who became their patrons, or protectors. The con- 
dition of the client was somewhat like that of the serf in the feudal 
system of the Middle Ages. A large clientage was considered the 
crown and glory of a patrician house. 

The slaves were, in the main, captives in war. Their number, 
small at first, gradually increased as the Romans extended their 
conquests, till they outnumbered all the other classes taken to- 



6 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. 

gather, and more than once turned upon their masters in formi- 
dable revolts that threatened the very existence of the Roman 
state. 

The Legendary Kings. — For nearly two and a half centuries 
after the founding of Rome (from 753 to 509 B.C., according to 
tradition), the government was a monarchy. To span this period, 
the legends of the Romans tell of the reigns of seven kings, — 
Romulus, the founder of Rome ; Numa, the lawgiver ; Tullus 
Hostilius and Ancus Marcius, conquerors both ; Tarquinius Priscus, 
the great builder ; Servius Tullius, the reorganizer of the govern- 
ment and second founder of the state ; and Tarquinius Superbus, 
the haughty tyrant, whose oppressions led to the abolition by the 
people of the office of king. 

The traditions of the doings of these monarchs and of what 
happened to them blend hopelessly fact and fable. We cannot 
be quite sure even as to their names. Respecting Roman affairs, 
however, under the last three rulers (the Tarquins), who were of 
Etruscan origin, some important things are related, the substantial 
truth of which we may rely upon with a fair degree of certainty ; 
and these matters we shall notice in the following paragraphs. 

Growth of Rome under the Tarquins. — The Tarquins extended 
their authority over the whole of Latium. The position of suprem- 
acy thus given Rome was naturally attended by the rapid growth 
in population and importance of the little Palatine city.^ The 

1 Several causes have been assigned to account for the early and rapid 
growth of the power of Rome. Its situation upon the Tiber was, without 
doubt, favorable to its early development as a centre of trade and commerce; 
while its distance from the sea protected it from the depredations of the 
pirates, which in early times swarmed in the Mediterranean and desolated the 
coast cities. But most potent of all influences in shaping the fortunes and 
character of the inhabitants of the little Palatine town was the necessity 
which they found themselves under to form some sort of social and political 
connection with the neighboring communities that held possession of the hills 
immediately about them. The early circumstances of the national life would 
thus seem to have given a certain legal and political bias to that Roman geniu? 
which was destined to give laws to the world. 



GROWTH OF ROME. 



original walls soon became too strait for the increasing multitudes ; 
new ramparts were built — tradition says under the direction of 
the king Servius Tullius — which, with a great circuit of seven 
miles, swept around the entire cluster of the Seven Hills. A large 
tract of marshy ground between the Palatine and Capitoline hills 
was drained by means of the Cloaca Maxima, the " Great Sewer," 
which was so admirably constructed that it has been preserved to 
the present day. It still discharges its waters through a great 
arch into the Tiber. The land thus reclaimed became the Forum, 




VIEW OF THE CAPITOLINE, WITH THE CLOACA MAXIMA. (A Reconstruction.) 

the assembling-place of the people. At one angle of this public 
square, as we should term it, was the Comitium, a large platform, 
where the assembhes of the patricians were held. Standing upon 
this platform, so placed that the speaker could command with his 
voice both the plebeians in the Forum and the patricians in the 
Comitium, was the rostrum,^ or desk, from which the Roman 

1 So called because decorated with the beaks {j-ostra) of war-galleys taken 
from enemies, 



THE ROM AM KINGDOM. 



orators delivered their addresses. This assembUng-place in later 
times was enlarged and decorated with various monuments and 
surrounded with splendid buildings and porticoes. Here more was 
said, resolved upon, and done, than upon any other spot in the 
ancient world. 

The Senate-house occupied one side of the Forum ; and facing 
this on the opposite side were the Temple of Vesta and the palace 




of the king. Overlooking all from the summit of the Capitoline 
was the famous sanctuary called the Capitol, or the Capitoline 
Temple, where beneath the same roof were the shrines of Jupiter, 
Juno, and Minerva, the three great national deities. 

Upon the level ground between the Aventine and the Palatine 
was located the Circus Maximus, the " Great Circle," where were 
celebrated the Roman games. The most noted of the streets of 



CONSTITUTION OF SERVIUS TULLIUS. 9 

Rome was the Via Sacra, or " Sacred Way," which traversed the 
Forum and led up the CapitoUne Hill to the temple of Jupiter. 
This was the street along which passed the triumphal processions 
of the Roman conquerors. 

New Constitution of Servius Tullius. — The second king of the 
Etruscan house, Servius Tullius by name, effected a most impor- 
tant change in the constitution of the Roman state. He did here 
at Rome just what Solon at about this time did at Athens.^ He 
made property instead of birth the basis of the constitution. 
The entire population was divided into five classes, the first of 
which included all citizens, whether patricians or plebeians, who 
owned iwtnty jugera (about twelve acres) of land ; the fifth and 
lowest embraced all that could show title to even two jugera. The 
army was made up of the members of the five classes ; as it was 
thought right and proper that the public defence should be the 
care of those who, on account of their possessions, were most in- 
terested in the maintenance of order and in the protection of the 
frontiers of the state. 

The assembling-place of the military classes thus organized was 
on a large plain just outside the city walls, called the Campus 
Martins, or " Field of Mars." The meeting of these mihtary 
orders was called the comitia- centuriata^ or the " assembly of 
hundreds." ^ This body, which of course was made up of patri- 
cians and plebeians, gradually absorbed the powers of the earlier 
patrician assembly {co7nitia curiaia). 

The reforms of Servius Tullius were an important step towards 
the establishment of social and political equality between the two 
great orders of the state. The new constitution indeed, as Momm- 
sen says, assigned to the plebeians duties only, and not rights : 
but being called to discharge the duties of citizens, it was not 
long before they demanded the rights of citizens ; and as the 
bearers of arms, they were able to enforce their demands. 

1 See Eastern Nations and Greece, p. 203. 

2 This assembly was not organized by Servius Tullius, but it grew out of the 
military organization he created. 



10 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. 

The Expulsion of the Kings. — The legends make Tarquinius 
Superbus, or Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome. He is 
represented as a monstrous tyrant, whose arbitrary acts caused 
both patricians and plebeians to unite and drive him and all his 
house into exile. This event, according to tradition, occurred in 
the year 509 B.C., only one year later than the expulsion of the 
tyrants from Athens.^ 

So bitterly did the people hate the tyranny they had abolished 
that it is said they all, the nobles as well as the commons, bound 
themselves by most solemn oaths never again to tolerate a king, 
enacting that should any one so much as express a wish for the 
restoration of the monarchy, he should be considered a public 
enemy, and be put to death. We shall hereafter see how well 
this vow was kept for nearly five hundred years. 

The Roman Religion. 

Influence upon Political Affairs. — To the early Romans the 
gods were very real. Hence religion had a great influence upon 
the course of public events at Rome during the first centuries of 
her existence. Later, when the learned had lost faith in and fear 
of the gods, rehgion was used corruptly for political purposes. 
Thus it happens that the pohtical history of the Roman people 

^ See Eastern Nations and Greece, p. 205. 

The sixth and fifth centuries B.C. in ancient history correspond politically 
to the eighteenth and nineteenth in modern history. As the later period is 
characterized, in the pohtical sphere, by the substitution of democracy for 
monarchy, so was the earlier era marked by the decay of monarchical and the 
growth of popular forms of government. Speaking of the abolition of mon- 
archy at Rome, Mommsen says : " How necessarily this was the result of the 
natural development of things is strikingly demonstrated by the fact that the 
same change of constitution took place in an analogous manner through 
the whole circuit of the Italo-Grecian world. Not only in Rome, but like- 
wise among the other Latins as well as among the Sabellians, Etruscans, and 
ApuHans, — in fact, in all the Italian communities, just as in those of Greece, — 
we find the rulers for hfe of an earlier epoch superseded in after times by 
annual magistrates." 



THE CHIEF ROMAN DEITIES. 



11 



becomes closely interwoven with their religion. Therefore, in 
order to understand the transactions of the period upon which 
we are about to enter, we must first acquaint ourselves with at 
least the prominent features of the religious institutions and 
beliefs of the Romans. 

The Chief Roman Deities. — The basis of the Roman religious 
system was the same as that of the Grecian : the germs of its in- 
stitutions were brought from the same early Aryan home. At 
the head of the Pantheon stood Jupiter, identical in all essential 




HEAD OF JANUS. (From a Roman Coin.) 



attributes with the Hellenic Zeus. He was the special protector 
of the Roman people. To him, together with Juno and Miner\^a, 
was consecrated, as we have already noticed, a magnificent temple 
upon the summit of the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the Forum 
and the city. Mars, the god of war, standing next in rank, was 
the favorite deity and the fabled father of the Roman race, who 
were fond of calling themselves the " Children of Mars." They 
proved themselves worthy offspring of the war-god. Martial games 



12 



THE ROMAN KINGDOM. 



and festivals were celebrated in his honor during the first month of 
the Roman year, which bore, and still bears, in his honor, the name 
of March. Janus was a double-faced deity, " the god of the begin- 
ning and the end of everything." The month of January was sacred 
to him, as were also all gates and doors. The gates of his temple 
were always kept open in time of war and shut in time of peace. 
The fire upon the household hearth was regarded as the symbol 

of the goddess Vesta. 
Her worship was a fa- 
vorite one with the Ro- 
mans. The nation, too, 
as a single great family, 
had a common national 
hearth, in the Temple 
of Vesta, where the sa- 
cred fires were kept 
burning from genera- 
tion to generation by 
six virgins, daughters of 
the Roman state.^ The 
Lares and Penates were 
household gods. Their 
images were set in the 
entrance of the dwell- 
ing. The Lares were 
the spirits of ancestors, 
which were thought to 
linger about the home 
as its guardians. 

Oracles and Divination. — The Romans, like the Greeks, 
thought that the will of the gods was communicated to men by 
means of oracles, and by strange sights, unusual events, or singu- 

1 For an interesting account of the remains of the House of the Vestals, 
brought to light by recent excavations, see Lanciani's Ancient Rome in the 
Light of Recent Discoveries. 




VESTAL VIRGIN, 



THE SACRED COLLEGES. 13 

lar coincidences. There were no true oracles at Rome. The 
Romans, therefore, often had recourse to those in Magna Graecia, 
even sending for advice, in great emergencies, to the Delphian 
shrine. From Etruria was introduced the art of the harus|)ices, 
or soothsayers, which consisted in discovering the will of the gods 
by the appearance of victims slain for the sacrifices. 

The Sacred Colleges. — The four chief sacred colleges, or soci- 
eties, were the Keepers of the Sibylline Books, the College of 
Augurs, the College of Pontiffs, and the College of the Heralds 

K curious legend is told of the Sibylline Books. An old woman 
came to Tarquinius Superbus and offered to sell him, for an ex- 
travagant price, nine volumes. As the king declined to pay the 
sum demanded, the wonian departed, destroyed three of the books, 
and then, returning, offered the remainder at the very same sum 
that she had wanted for the complete number. The king still 
refused to purchase, so the sibyl went away and destroyed three 
more of the volumes, and bringing back the remaining three, asked 
the same price as before. Tarquin was by this time so curious 
respecting the contents of the mysterious books that he purchased 
the remaining volumes. It was found upon examination that they 
were filled with prophecies respecting the future of the Roman 
people. The books, which were written in Greek, were placed in 
a stone chest, and kept in a vault beneath the Capitoline temple ; 
and special custodians were appointed to take charge of them and 
interpret them. The number of keepers, throughout the most 
important period of Roman history, was fifteen. The books were 
consulted only in times of extreme danger. 

The duty of the members of the College of Augurs was to 
interpret the omens, or auspices, which were casual sights or ap- 
pearances, by which means it was beheved that Jupiter made known 
his will. Great skill was required in the "taking of the auspices," 
as it was called. No business of importance, public or private, 
was entered upon without first consulting the auspices, to ascertain 
whether they were favorable. The public assembly, for illustra- 
tion, must not convene, to elect officers or to enact laws, unless 



14 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. 

the auspices had been taken and found propitious. Should a 
peal of thunder occur while the people were holding a meeting, 
that was considered an unfavorable omen, and the assembly must 
instantly disperse. 

It is easy to see how the power of the augurs might be used 
corruptly for political ends. At first all the members of the col- 
lege were patricians, and very frequently they would prevent the 
plebeians from holding an assembly by giving out that the auspices 
were not favorable ; and sometimes, when matters were not tak- 
ing such a course in the popular assembly as suited the nobles, 
and some measure obnoxious to their order was on the point of 
being carried, they would secure an announcement from the au- 
gurs that Jupiter was thundering, or manifesting his displeasure in 
some other way; and the people were obliged to break up their 
meeting on the instant. One of the privileges contended for by 
the plebeians was admission to this college, that they might assist 
in watching the omens, and thus this important matter not be left 
entirely in the hands of their enemies. 

The College of Pontiffs was so called probably because one of 
the duties of its members was to keep in repair the Bridge {pons) 
of Piles over the Tiber.-^ This was the most important of all the 
religious institutions of the Romans ; for to the pontiffs belonged 
the superintendence of all religious matters. In their keeping, 
too, was the calendar, and they could lengthen or shorten the 
year, which power they sometimes used to extend the office of a 
favorite or to cut short that of one who had incurred their dis- 
pleasure. The head of the college was called Pontifex Maximus, 
or the Chief Bridge-builder, which title was assumed by the Ro- 
man emperors, and after them by the Christian bishops of Rome ; 
and thus the name has come down to our times. 

The College of Heralds had the care of all public matters per- 
taining to foreign nations. If the Roman people had suffered any 

1 See p. 20. It is possible that pons originally signified not " bridge," but 
"way" generally, 2Mdi pontifex therefore meant "constructor of ways." — 

MOMMSEN. 



SACRED GAMES. 



IS 



wrong from another state, it was the duty of the heralds to demand 
satisfaction. If this was denied, and war determined upon, then 
a herald proceeded to the frontier of the enemy's country and 
hurled over the boundary a spear dipped in blood. This was a 
declaration of war. The Romans were very careful in the observ- 
ance of this ceremony. 

Sacred Games. — The Romans had many rehgious games and 
festivals. Prominent among these were the so-called Circensian 




SUOVETAURILIA. 

(A lustratory sacrifice of a bull, a sheep, and a swine, which ended a festival know.i 
as the Ambarvalia, in which the fields were purified and blessed.) 

Games, or Games of the Circus, which were very similar to the 
sacred games of the Greeks.^ They consisted, in the main, of 
chariot-racing, wrestling, foot-racing, and various other athletic 
contests. 

These festivals, as in the case of those of the Greeks, had their 

^ See Eastern Nations and Greece, p. i8i. 



16 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. 

origin in the belief that the gods deHghted in the exhibition of 
feats of skill, strength, or endurance ; that their anger might be 
appeased by such spectacles ; or that they might be persuaded 
by the promise of games to lend aid to mortals in great emergen- 
cies. At the opening of the year it was customary for the Roman 
magistrate, in behalf of the people, to promise to the gods games 
and festivals, provided good crops, protection from pestilence, 
and victory were granted the Romans during the year. So, too, a 
general in great straits in the field might, in the name of the state, 
vow plays to the gods, and the people were sacredly bound to 
fulfil the promise. Plays given in fulfilment of vows thus made 
were called votive games.^ 

Towards the close of the republic these games lost much of 
their religious character, and at last became degraded into mere 
brutal shows given by ambitious leaders for the purpose of winning 
popularity. 

1 The Saturnalia was a festival held in December in honor of Saturn, the 
god of sowing. It was an occasion on which all classes, including the slaves, 
who were allowed their freedom during the celebration, gave themselves up to 
riotous amusements; hence the significance we attach to the word satui'nalian. 
The well-known Roman Carnival of to-day is a survival of the ancient Satur- 
nalia. 



LEGENDARY TALES. 17 



LEGENDARY TALES PERTAINING TO THE EARLY HIS- 
TORY OF ROME.i 

i^NEAS AND HIS TrOJAN COMPANIONS ARRIVE IN ItALY. 

After Troy had been taken by the Greeks, ^neas, led by the Fates, 
came in search of a new home to the Laurentian ^ shores. King Latinus, 
when he learned that the leader of the band was yEneas, the son of 
Anchises by Venus, made a league of friendship with the strangers, 
and gave his daughter Lavinia in marriage to the Trojan hero, ^neas 
built a town which he called Lavinium, after the name of his wife. 

The Trojans and the people of Latium were soon engaged in war 
with Turnus, king of the Rutulians, to whom Lavinia had been affianced 
before the coming of yEneas. In the battle that followed, the Rutulians 
were defeated, but King Latinus was killed ; and thenceforth ^neas 
was king, not only of the Trojans, but also of the people over whom 
Latinus had ruled. To both nations he gave the common name of 
Latins. 

^neas was followed in the government by his son Ascanius, who, 
finding Lavinium too strait for its inhabitants, left that town, and built 
a new city on the Alban Mount, to which was given the name of Alba 
Longa. In this city ruled Ascanius and a long line of his descendants. 
At length, by force and violence, ruled Amulius. He had gained pos- 
session of the kingdom by dethroning his brother Numitor, putting to 
death his male offspring, and making his daughter, Rhea Sylvia, a 
vestal, in order that she should remain unmarried. But Rhea brought 
forth twins, of whom the god Mars was declared to be the father. The 
cruel king ordered the children to be thrown into the Tiber. Now it 
so happened that the river had overflowed its banks, and the cradle in 
which the children were borne was finally left on dry ground by the 
retiring flood. Attracted by the cries of the children, a she-wolf 
directed her course to them, and with the greatest tenderness fondled 
and nursed them. There, in the care of the wolf, a shepherd named 
Faustulus found them, and carried them home to his wife, to be reared 
with his own children. 

1 From Livy's History of Rome, I. and II. In this connection read Macaulay's 
Lays of Ancient Rome. As to the credibility of these legends, see further on, last 
chapter, paragraph headed " Lays and Ballads of the Legendary Age." 

2 Italian. 



18 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. 

When the boys had grown to be men, they put to death the usurper 
Amulius, and restored the throne to their grandfather Numitor. Numi- 
tor now reigned at Alba ; but Romulus and Remus — for so the brothers 
were named — : had a strong desire to build a city on the spot where they 
had been exposed and rescued. A shameful contest, however, arose 
between the brothers, as to which of the two should give name to the 
new city. It was determined that the matter should be decided by 
augury (see p. 13). Romulus chose the Palatine and Remus the 
Aventine Hill, from which to watch for the omens. To Remus first 
appeared six vultures ; afterwards twelve appeared to Romulus. Here- 
upon each was proclaimed king by his followers, — Remus, on the 
ground that the birds had shown themselves to him first ; Romulus, on 
the ground that the greater number had appeared to him. A quarrel 
ensuing, Remus was killed. Another account, however, says that 
Remus, when the walls of the new city had been raised to only a little 
height, leaped over them in derision ; whereupon Romulus in anger 
slew him, at the same time uttering these words : " So perish every one 
that shall hereafter leap over my wall." The city was at length built, 
and was called Rome, from the name of its founder. 

The Romans capture the Sabine Women for Wives. 

The new city, having been made by Romulus a sort of asylum or 
refuge for the discontented and the outlawed of all the surrounding 
states, soon became very populous, and more powerful than either 
Lavinium or Alba Longa. But there were few women among its in- 
habitants. Romulus therefore sent embassies to the neighboring cities 
to ask that his people might take wives from among them. But the 
adjoining nations were averse to entering into marriage alliances with 
the men of the new city. Thereupon the Roman youth determined to 
secure by violence what they could not obtain by other means. Rom- 
ulus appointed a great festival, and invited to the celebration all the 
surrounding peoples. The Sabines especially came in great numbers 
with their wives and daughters. In the midst of the games, the 
Roman youth, at a preconcerted signal, rushed among the spectators, 
and seized and carried off to their homes the daughters of their guests. 
This violation of the laws of hospitality led to a war on the part of 
the injured Sabines against the Romans. Peace, however, was made 
between the combatants by the young women themselves, who, as the 
wives of their captor§, h^cj become reconciled to their lot. The two 



LEGENDARY TALES. 19 

nations were now combined into one, the Sabines removing to one of 
the Seven Hills. Each people, however, retained its own king; but 
upon the death of the Sabine king, Titus Tatius, Romulus ruled over 
both the Romans and the Sabines. During a thunder-storm Romulus 
was caught up to the skies, and Numa Pompilius ruled in his stead. 

The Combat between the Horatii and the Curiatii^ 

In process of time a war broke out between Rome and Alba Longa. 
It might be called a civil war, for the Romans and Albans were alike 
descendants of the Trojans. The two armies were ready to engage in 
battle when it was proposed that the controversy should be decided by 
a combat between three Alban brothers named the Curiatii, and three 
Roman brothers known as the Horatii. The nation whose champions 
gained the victory was to rule over the other. On the signal being 
given, the combat began. Two of the Romans soon fell lifeless, and 
the three Curiatii were wounded. The remaining Roman, who was 
unhurt, was now surrounded by the three Albans. To avoid their 
united attack, he turned and fled, thinking that they, being wounded, 
would almost certainly become separated in following him. This did 
actually happen ; and when Horatius, looking back as he fled, saw the 
Curiatii to be following him at different intervals, he turned himself 
about and fell upon his pursuers, one after theother, and despatched 
them. 

So in accordance with the terms of the treaty which the two cities 
had made, conditioned on the issue of the fight between the champions, 
Rome held dominion over Alba Longa. But the league between the 
Romans and the Albans was soon broken, and then the Romans, de- 
molishing the houses of Alba Longa, carried off all the inhabitants to 
Rome, and incorporated them with the Roman state. i 

The Exploit of Horatius Cocles. 

After the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome, they besought Por- 
senna, king of Clusium, a powerful city of Etruria, to espouse their 
cause, and help them to regain the kingly power at Rome. Porsenna 
lent a favorable ear to their solicitations, and made war upon the 
Roman state. As his army drew near to Rome, all the people from 

1 For the sequel of this story, see Livy, I, 26. 



20 THE ROMAN KINGDOM. 

the surrounding country hastened within the city gates. The bravery 
of a single man, Horatius Codes, alone prevented the enemy from 
effecting an entrance into the city. This man was posted as a guard 
on the Sublician Bridge (that is, " bridge of piles"), which led across 
the Tiber from the citadel of the Janiculum. The Janiculum having 
been taken by the enemy, its defenders were retreating in great disorder 
across the bridge, and the victors following close after. Horatius Codes 
called after his fleeing companions to break down the bridge, while he 
held the pursuers at bay. Taking his stand at the farther entrance of the 
bridge, he, with the help of two comrades, held the enemy in check, 
while the structure was being destroyed. As the bridge fell with a 
crash into the stream, Codes leaped into the water, and amidst a 
shower of darts swam in safety to the Roman side. Through his brav- 
ery he had saved Rome. His grateful countrymen erected a statue to 
his honor in the Comitium, and voted him a plot of land as large as he 
could plow in a single day. 

The Fortitude of Mucius Sc^vola. 

Failing to take Rome by assault, Porsenna endeavored to reduce it 
by a regular siege. After the investment had been maintained for a 
considerable time, a Roman youth, Gains Mucius by name, resolved to 
deliver the city from the presence of the besiegers by going into the 
camp of the enemy and killing Porsenna. Through a mistake, how- 
ever, he slew the secretary of the king instead of the king himself. He 
was seized and brought into the presence of Porsenna, who threatened 
him with punishment by fire unless he made a full disclosure of the 
Roman plots. Mucius, to show the king how little he could be moved 
by threats, thrust his right hand into a flame that was near, and held it 
there unflinchingly until it was consumed. Porsenna was so impressed 
by the fortitude of the youth, that he dismissed him without punish- 
ment. From the loss of his right hand, Mucius received the surname 
of Scaevola ; that is, The Left-handed. 

The sequel of the story is that Porsenna, having learned from Mucius 
that three hundred Roman youth had entered into a vow to sacrifice 
themselves, if need be, in order to compass his death, made a treaty of 
peace with the Romans and withdrew his army from before their city. 



THE FIRST CONSULS. 21 



CHAPTER II. 

THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC: CONQUEST OF ITALY. 

(509-264 B.C.) 

The First Consuls. — With the monarchy overthrown and the 
last king and his house banished from Rome, the people set to 
work to reorganize the government. In place of the king, there 
were elected (by the comitia centuriata, in which assembly the 
plebeians had a place) two patrician magistrates, called consuls,^ 
who were chosen for one year, and were invested with almost all 
the powers, save some priestly functions, that had been held by 
the monarch during the regal period. 

In public each consul was attended by twelve servants, called 
lictors, each of whom bore an axe bound in a bundle of rods 
{fasces), the symbols of the authority of the consul to flog and 
to put to death. Within the limits of the city, however, the axe 
must be removed from the fasces, by which was indicated that no 
Roman citizen could be put to death by the consuls without the 
consent of the public assembly.^ 

Lucius Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus were the first 
consuls under the new constitution. But it is said that the very 
name of Tarquinius was so intolerable to the people that he was 
forced to resign the consulship, and that he and all his house were 

1 That is, colleagues. Each consul had the power of obstructing the acts or 
vetoing the commands of the other. In times of great public danger the con- 
suls were superseded by a special officer called a dictator, whose term of office 
was limited to six months, but whose power during this time was as unlimited 
as that of the kings had been. 

2 Each consul also had an assistant who bore the name of qucestor. The 
duties of the quaestor were at first chiefly of a judicial character, but later they 
became in the main of a financial nature. 



22 



THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. 



driven out of Rome.^ Another consul, Publius Valerius, was chosen 
in his stead. 

First Secession of the Plebeians (494 b.c). — Taking advan- 




-^?iBi 



LICTORS. 

tage of the disorders that followed the political revolution, the 
Latin towns which had been forced to acknowledge the supremacy 
of Rome rose in revolt, and the result was that almost all the con- 

1 The truth is, he was related to the exiled royal family, and the people were 
distrustful of his loyalty to the republic. 



THE COVENANT AND THE TRIBUNES. 23 

quests that had been made under the kings were lost. For a long 
time the little republic had to struggle hard for bare existence.^ 

Troubles without brought troubles within. The poor plebeians, 
during this period of disorder and war, fell in debt to the wealthy 
class, — for the Roman soldier went to war at his own charge, 
equipping and feeding himself, — and payment was exacted with 
heartless severity. A debtor became the absolute property of his 
creditor, who might sell him as a slave to pay the debt, and in 
some cases even put him to death.^ All this was intolerable. The 
plebeians determined to secede from Rome and build a new city 
for themselves on a neighboring eminence, called afterwards the 
Sacred Hill. They marched away in a body from Rome to the 
chosen spot, and began making preparations for erecting new 
homes (494 B.C.). 

The Covenant and the Tribunes. — The patricians saw clearly 
that such a division must prove ruinous to the state, and that the 
plebeians must be persuaded to give up their enterprise and come 
back to Rome. The consul Valerius was sent to treat with the 

1 The Romans had to fight both the Latins and the Etruscans. A great 
victory gained by the Romans at Lake Regillus, 496 B.C., ended the war, and 
secured the future of Rome. 

2 Livy draws the following picture to show the condition of the poor 
debtor. One day an old man, pale and emaciated, and clothed in rags, 
tottered into the Forum. To those that crowded about him to inquire the 
cause of his misery, he related this tale : While he had been away serving in 
the Sabine war, the crops on his little farm had been destroyed by the enemy, 
his house burnt, and his cattle driven off. To pay his taxes, he had been 
forced to run in debt; this debt, growing continually by usury, had consumed 
first his farm, a paternal inheritance, then the rest of his substance, and at 
length had laid hold of his own person. He had been thrown into prison and 
beaten with stripes. He then showed the bystanders the marks of scourging 
upon his body, and at the same time displayed the scars of the wounds he had 
received in battle. Thereupon a great tumult arose, and the people, filled with 
indignation, ran together from all sides into the Forum. II. 23. 

Compare the condition of the Roman debtors with that of the same class 
at Athens before the reforms of Solon. See Eastern Nations and Greece, 
p. 203. 



24 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

insurgents. The plebeians were at first obstinate, but at last were 
persuaded to yield to the entreaties of the embassy to return, 
being won to his mind, so it is said, by one of the wise senators, 
Menenius, who made use of the well-known fable of the Body and 
the Members. 

The following covenant was entered into, and bound by the 
most solemn oaths and vows before the gods : The debts of the 
poor plebeians were to be cancelled, and those held in slavery set 
free ; and two magistrates (the number was soon increased to 
ten), called tribunes, whose duty it should be to watch over the 
plebeians, and protect them against the injustice, harshness, and 
partiality of the patrician magistrates, were to be chosen from the 
commons. The persons of these officers were made sacred. Any 
one interrupting a tribune in the discharge of his duties, or doing 
him any violence, was declared an outlaw, whom any one might 
kill. That the tribunes might be always easily found, they were 
not allowed to go more than one mile beyond the city walls. 
Their houses were to be open night as well as day, that any 
plebeian unjustly dealt with might flee thither for protection and 
refuge. 

We cannot overestimate the importance of the change effected 
in the Roman constitution by the creation of this office of the trib- 
unate. Under the protection and leadership of the tribunes, who 
were themselves protected by oaths of inviolable sanctity, the ple- 
beians carried on a struggle for a share in the offices and dignities 
of the state which never ceased until the Roman government, as 
yet only republican in name, became in fact a real democracy, in 
which patrician and plebeian shared equally in all emoluments and 
privileges. 

Goriolanus. — The tradition of Coriolanus illustrates in what 
manner the tribunes cared for the rights of the common people 
and protected them from the oppression of the nobles. During 
a severe famine at Rome, Gelon, the king of Syracuse, sent large 
quantities of grain to the capital for distribution among the suffer- 
ing poor. A certain patrician, Coriolanus by name, made a proposal 



CORTOLANUS. 25 

that none of the grain should be given to the plebeians save on con- 
dition that they gave up their tribunes. These officials straightway 
summoned him before the plebeian assembly/ on the charge of 
having broken the solemn covenant of the Sacred Mount, and so 
bitter was the feeling against him that he was obliged to flee from 
Rome. 

He now allied himself with the Volscians/ enemies of Rome, 
and even led their armies against his native city. An embassy 
from the Senate was sent to him, to sue for peace. But the spirit 
of Coriolanus was bitter and revengeful, and he would listen to 
none of their proposals- Nothing availed to move him until his 
mother, at the head of a train of Roman matrons, came to his 
tent, and with tears pleaded with him to spare the city. Her 
entreaties and the " soft prayers " of his own wife and children 
prevailed, and with the words, " Mother, thou hast saved Rome, 
but lost thy son," he led away the Volscian army. 

Cincinnatus made Dictator. — The enemies of Rome, taking 
advantage of the dissensions of the nobles and commons, pressed 
upon the frontiers of the republic on all sides. In 458 B.C., the 
^quians, while one of the consuls was away fighting the Sabines, 
defeated the forces of the other, and shut them up in a narrow 
valley, whence escape seemed impossible. There was great terror 
in Rome when news of the situation of the army was brought to 
the city. 

The Senate immediately appointed Cincinnatus, a grand old 
patrician, dictator. The ambassadors that carried to him the mes- 

1 The Assembly of Tribes {comitia tributa), an assembly which was estab- 
lished 471 B.C., by what is known as the Publilian Law. It v/as made up 
wholly of plebeians, and was presided over by the tribunes. Later, there came 
into existence another tribal assembly, which was composed of patricians and 
plebeians, and presided over by consuls or praetors. Some authorities are in- 
clined to regard these two assemblies as one and the same body; but others, 
among whom is Mommsen, with probably better reason, look upon them as 
two distinct organizations. 

■^ For the location of the Volscians, the ^quians, and the other enemies of 
Rome during this period, see map, p. 29. 



26 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC, 

sage from the Senate found him upon his Kttle farm near the Tiber, 
at work behind the plough. Accepting the office at once, he hastily 
gathered an army, marched to the relief of the consul, captured 
the entire army of the ^Equians, and sent them beneath the yoke.^ 
Cincinnatus then led his army back to Rome in triumph, laid 
down his office, and sought again the retirement of his farm. 

The Decemvirs and the Tables of Laws. — Written laws are 
always a great safeguard against oppression. Until what shall 
constitute a crime and what shall be its penalty are clearly written 
down, and well known and understood by all, judges may render 
unfair decisions, or inflict unjust punishment, and yet run lit- 
tle risk — unless they go altogether too far — of being called to 
an account; for no one but themselves knows what the law or 
the penalty really is. Hence in all struggles of the people against 
the tyranny of the ruling class, the demand for written laws is one 
of the first measures taken by the people for the protection of 
their persons and property. Thus we have seen the people of 
Athens, early in their struggle with the nobles, demanding and 
obtaining a code of written laws.^ The same thing now took place 
at Rome. The plebeians demanded that a code of laws be drawn 
up, in accordance with which the consuls, who exercised judicial 
powers, should render their decisions. The patricians offered a 
stubborn resistance to their wishes, but finally were forced to yield 
to the popular clamor. 

A commission was sent to the Greek cities of Southern Italy 
and to Athens to study the Grecian laws and customs. Upon the 
return of this embassy, a commission of ten magistrates, who were 
known as decemvirs, was appointed to frame a code of laws 
(45 1 B.C.) . These officers, while engaged in this work, were also 
to administer the entire government, and so were invested with 
the supreme power of the state. The patricians gave up their 

1 This was formed of two spears thrust firmly into the ground and crossed 
a few feet from the earth by a third. Prisoners of war were forced to pass 
beneath this yoke as a symbol of submission. 

2 See Eastern Nations and Greece, pp. 201, 203. 



THE DECEMVIRS. 21 

consuls and the plebeians their tribunes. At the end of the first 
year, the task of the board was quite far from being finished, so 
a new decemvirate was elected to complete the work. Appius 
Claudius was the only member of the old board that was returned 
to the new. 

The code was soon finished, and the laws were written on 
twelve tablets of bronze, which were fastened to the rostrum, or 
orator's platform in the Forum, where they might be seen and 
read by all. These " Laws of the Twelve Tables " were to Roman 
jurisprudence what the good laws of Solon ^ were to the Athenian 
constitution. They formed the basis of all new legislation for 
many centuries, and constituted a part of the education of the 
Roman youth — every school-boy being required to learn them by 
heart. 

Especially influential were the Laws of the Twelve Tables in 
helping to establish social and civil equality between the patricians 
and plebeians. They tended to efface the social distinctions that 
had hitherto existed between the two orders, and helped to draw 
them together into a single people ; for up to this time the rela- 
tions of the plebeians to the patricians, notwithstanding the reforms 
of Servius TuUius, had been rather those of foreigners than of 
fellow-citizens.^ 

1 See Eastern N'ations and Greece, p. 203. 

2 For illustration, up to this time the plebeians had not been allowed to 
intermarry with the patricians. This was in strict accord with the general rule 
among the ancients, that the citizens of one city should have no social dealings 
with those of another. Only a few years, however, after the drawing up of the 
code, and owing in part at least to its influence, a law known, from the tribune 
(Gaius Canuleius) who secured its passage, as the Canuleian Law, gave the 
plebeians the right to intermarry with the patricians. There was now civil and 
social equality established between the two orders. The plebeians next engaged 
in a struggle for political rights and political equality (see p. 34). These long 
contests carried on by the plebeians for civil, social, and political rights, and 
their gradual admission to the privileges from which they had been excluded, 
may be well illustrated by the case of the freedmen among us, who, by the 
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to our Constitution, were admitted first 
to the civil and then to the political rights and privileges of American citizens. 



28 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

Misrule and Overthrow of the Decemvirs. — The first decem- 
virs used the great power lodged in their hands with justice and 
prudence ; but the second board, under the leadership of Appius 
Claudius, instituted a most infamous and tyrannical rule. No 
man's life was safe, be he patrician or plebeian. An ex-tribune, 
daring to denounce the course of the decemvirs, was caused by 
them to be assassinated. Another act, even more outrageous than 
this, filled to the brim the cup of their iniquities. Virginia was 
the beautiful daughter of a plebeian, and Appius Claudius, desiring 
to gain possession of her, made use of his authority as a judge to 
pronounce her a slave. The father of the maiden, preferring the 
death of his daughter to her dishonor, killed her with his own 
hand. Then, drawing the weapon from her breast, he hastened 
to the army, which was resisting a united invasion of the Sabines 
and ^quians, and, exhibiting the bloody knife, told the story of 
the outrage.^ The soldiers rose as a single man and hurried to the 
city. The excitement resulted in a great body of the Romans, 
soldiers and citizens, probably chiefly plebeians, seceding from the 
state, and marching away to the Sacred Hill. This procedure, 
which once before had proved so effectual in securing justice to 
the oppressed, had a similar issue now. The situation was so 
critical that the decemvirs were forced to resign. The consulate 
and the tribunate were restored. Eight of the decemvirs were 
forced to go into exile; Appius Claudius and one other, having 
been imprisoned, committed suicide (450 B.C.). 

Consular, or Military Tribunes. — The overthrow of the decem- 
virate was followed by a bitter struggle between the nobles and the 
commons, which was an effort on the part of the latter to gain 
admission to the consulship ; for up to this time only a patrician 
could hold that office. The contention resulted in a compromise. 
It was agreed that, in place of the two consuls, the people might 
elect from either order magistrates that should be known as 

1 Livy, III. 44-50. This tale is possibly mythical, but it at least gives a 
vivid, and doubtless truthful, picture of the times. 




THE AGER ROMAICS AND THE LATIN CONFEDERACY 

In the time of the early Republic, about B.C. 450. 



SCALE or MILES 







10 



20 



Tlie Ager Romanua, 

The Latin Confederacy^ 

The original domain of the city of Rome. 



1. The Pass of Algidus. 

2. The Allan Mount. 

3. Mount Soracte. 



30 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

" military tribunes with consular powers." These officers, whose 
number varied, differed from consuls more in name than in func- 
tions or authority. In fact, the plebeians had gained the office, 
but not the name^ (444 e.g.). 

The Censors. — No sooner had the plebeians secured the right 
of admission to the tribunate with consular powers, than the jeal- 
ous and exclusive patricians began scheming to rob them of the 
fruit of the victory they had gained. They effected this by taking 
from the consulate some of its most distinctive duties and powers, 
and conferring them upon two new patrician officers called censors. 
The functions of these magistrates were many and important. 
They took the census, and thus assigned to every man his position 
in the different classes of the citizens ; and they could, for immo- 
rality or any improper conduct, not only degrade a man from his 
rank, but deprive him of his vote. It was their duty to watch the 
public morals and in case of necessity to administer wholesome 
advice. Thus we are told of their reproving the Roman youths 
for wearing tunics with long sleeves — an Oriental and effeminate 
custom — and for neglecting to marry upon arriving at a proper 
age. From the name of these Roman officers comes our word 
censorious, meaning fault-finding. 

The first censors were elected probably in the year 444 b.c. : 
about one hundred years afterwards, in 351 B.C., the plebeians 
secured the right of holding this office also. ' 

Siege and Capture of Veil. — We must now turn our attention 
to the fortunes of Rome in war. Almost from the founding of the 
city, we find its warlike citizens carrying on a fierce contest with their 
powerful Etruscan neighbors on the north. Veii was one of the 

1 The patricians were especially unwilling that the plebeians should receive 
the name, for the reason that an ex-consul enjoyed certain dignities and hon- 
ors, such as the right to wear a particular kind of dress and to set up in his 
house images of his ancestors. These honorary distinctions the higher order 
were jealous of retaining exclusively for themselves. Owing to the great influ- 
ence of the patricians in the elections, it was not until about 400 B.C. that a 
plebeian was chosen to the new office. 



SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VEIL 



31 




LTRUSCAN ARCHER. 



largest and richest of the cities of Etruria. Around this the war 

gathered. The Romans, Uke the Grecians 

at Troy, attacked its walls for ten years. 

The length of the siege, and the necessity of 

maintaining a force permanently in the field, 

led to the establishment of a paid standing 

army ; for hitherto the soldier had not only 

equipped himself, but had served without 

pay. Thus was laid the basis of that mili- 
tary power which was destined to effect the 

conquest of the world, and then, in the hands 

of ambitious and favorite generals, to over- 
throw the republic itself. 

The capture of Veii by the dictator Ca- 

millus (396 B.C.) was followed by that of 

many other Etruscan towns. Rome was 

enriched by their spoils, and became the centre of a large and 

lucrative trade. The frontiers of the republic were pushed out 

even beyond the utmost limits of the 
kingdom before its overthrow.^ All 
that was lost by the revolution had 
been now regained, and much besides 
had been won. At this moment there 
broke upon the city a storm from the 
north, which all but cut short the story 
we are narrating. 

Sack of Rome by the Gauls (390 
B.C.) . — We have already mentioned 

1 Trace the gradual growth of the Roman 
domain (^Ager Romanus) by a comparative 
study of the sketch-maps on pp. 29, 36, 
57. Note, also, the increase in the number of 
Latin colonies between the dissolution of the 
Latin Confederacy (see p. 38) and the Second 
ROMAN SOLDIER. Punic War, as shown by the last two maps. 




32 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

how, in very remote times, the tribes of Gaul crossed the Alps 
and estabhshed themselves in Northern Italy (see p. 3). While 
the Romans were conquering the towns of Etruria, these barbarian 
hordes were moving southward, and overrunning and devastating 
the countries of Central Italy. 

News was brought to Rome that they were advancing upon that 
city. A Roman army met them on the banks of the river Allia, 
eleven miles from the capital. The Romans were driven in great 
panic from the field. It would, be impossible to picture the con- 
sternation and despair that reigned at Rome when the fugitives 
brought to the city intelligence of the terrible disaster. It was 
never forgotten, and the day of the battle of the AlHa was ever 
after a black day in the Roman calendar. The sacred vessels 
of the temples were buried ; the eternal fires of Vesta were hur- 
riedly borne by their virgin keepers to a place of safety in 
Etruria ; and a large part of the population fled in dismay across 
the Tiber. No attempt was made to defend any portion of the 
city save the citadel. 

When the Gauls entered the city they found everything 
abandoned to them. The aged senators, so the Romans after- 
wards proudly related, thinking it unworthy of their office to 
seek safety in flight, resolved to meet death in a befitting way. 
Arrayed in their robes of office, each with his ivory-headed wand 
in his hand, they seated themselves in the Forum, in their chairs 
of state, and there sat, " silent and motionless as statues," while 
the barbarians were carrying on their work of sack and pillage 
about them. The rude Gauls, arrested by the venerable aspect 
of the white-haired senators, gazed in awe upon them, and offered 
them no violence. But finally one of the barbarians laid his 
hand upon the beard of the venerable Papirius, to stroke it under 
an impulse of childlike reverence. The aged senator, interpreting 
the movement as an insult, struck the Gaul with his sceptre. The 
spell was instantly broken. The enraged barbarians struck 
Papirius from his seat, and then falling upon the other senators 
massacred them all. 



THE SACKING OF ROME. 33 

The little garrison within the Capitol, under the command 
of the hero Manlius, for seven months resisted all the eifforts of 
the Gauls to dislodge them. A tradition tells how, when the 
barbarians, under cover of the darkness of night, had climbed 
the steep rock, and had almost effected an entrance to the 
citadel, the defenders were awakened by the cackling of some 
geese, which the piety of the famishing soldiers had spared, 
because these birds were sacred to Juno. 

News was now brought the Gauls that the Venetians were over- 
running their possessions in Northern Italy. This led them to 
open negotiations with the Romans. For one thousand pounds of 
gold, according to the historian Livy, the Gauls agreed to retire 
from the city. As the story runs, while the gold was being weighed 
out in the Forum, the Romans complained that the weights were 
false, when Brennus, the Gallic leader, threw his sword also into 
the scales, exclaiming, " Vce Victis / " " Woe to the vanquished." 
Just at this moment, so the tale continues, Camillus, a brave patri- 
cian general, appeared upon the scene with a Roman army that 
had been gathered from the fugitives ; and, as he scattered the 
barbarians with heavy blows, he exclaimed, " Rome is ransomed 
with steel, and not with gold." According to one account Brennus 
himself was taken prisoner ; but another tradition says that he 
escaped, carrying with him not only the ransom, but a vast booty 
besides. 

The Rebuilding of Rome. — When the fugitives returned to 
Rome after the withdrawal of the Gauls, they found the city a 
heap of ruins. Some of the poorer classes, shrinking from the 
labor of rebuilding their old homes, proposed to abandon the site 
and make Veil their new capital. But love for the old spot at 
last prevailed over all the persuasions of indolence, and the people, 
with admirable courage, set themselves to the task of rebuilding 
their homes. It was a repetition of the scene at Athens after the 
retreat of the Persians.^ The city was speedily restored, and was 

^ See Eastern Nations and Greece, p. 225. 



34 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

soon enjoying her old position of supremacy among the sur- 
rounding states. There were some things, however, which even 
Roman resolution and energy could not restore. These were the 
ancient records and documents, through whose irreparable loss 
the early history of Rome is involved in great obscurity and 
uncertainty. 

Treason and Death of Manlius. — The ravages of the Gauls 
left the poor plebeians in a most pitiable condition. In order to 
rebuild their dwellings and restock their farms, they were obliged 
to borrow money of the rich patricians, and consequently soon 
began again to experience the insult and oppression that were ever 
incident to the condition of the debtor class at Rome. 

The patrician Manhus, the hero of the brave defence of the 
Capitol, now came forward as the champion of the plebeians. He 
sold the larger part of his estates, and devoted the proceeds to 
the reUef of the debtor class. It seems evident that in thus under- 
taking the cause of the commons he had personal aims and ambi- 
tions. The patricians determined to crush him. He was finally 
brought to trial before the popular assembly, on the charge of 
conspiring to restore the office of king. From the Forum, where 
the people were gathered, the Capitol, which Manlius had so 
bravely defended against the barbarians, was in full sight. Point- 
ing to the temples he had saved, he appealed to the gods and to 
the gratitude of the Roman people. The people responded to the 
appeal in a way altogether -natural. They refused to condemn him. 
But brought to trial a second time, and now in a grove whence 
the citadel could not be seen, he was sentenced to death, and was 
thrown from the Tarpeian Rock.^ This event occurred 384 B.C. 

Plebeians admitted to the Consulship. — For nearly half a cen- 
tury after the death of Manlius the most important events in the 

1 The Tarpeian Rock was the name given to the cliff which the CapitoHne 
Hill formed on the side towards the Tiber (or towards the Palatine, according 
to some). It received its name from Tarpeia, daughter of one of the legen- 
dary keepers of the citadel. State criminals were frequently executed by 
being thrown from this rock. 



PLEBEIANS ADMITTED TO THE CONSULSHIP. 35 

history of Rome centre about the struggle of the plebeians for 
admission to those offices of the government whence the jealousy 
of the patricians still excluded them. The Licinian Laws, so called 
from one of their proposers, the tribune C. Licinius, besides reliev- 
ing the poor of usurious interest, and effecting a more just division 
of the public lands, also provided that consuls should be chosen 
yearly, as at first (see p. 28), and that one of the consuls should 
be a plebeian. This last provision opened to any one of the ple- 
beian class the highest office in the state. The nobles, when they 
saw that it would be impossible to resist the popular demand, had 
recourse to the old device. They effected a compromise, whereby 
the judicial powers of the consuls were taken from them and con- 
ferred upon a new magistrate, who bore the name of prczior. 
Only patricians, of course, were to be eligible to this new office. 
They then permitted the Licinian Laws to pass (367 B.C.). 

During the latter half of the fourth century B.C. (between the 
years 356-300) the plebeians gained admittance to the dictator- 
ship, the censorship, the praetorship, and to the College of Augurs 
and the College of Pontiffs. They had been admitted to the 
College of Priests having charge of the Sibylline books, at the time 
of the passing of the Licinian Laws. With plebeians in all these 
positions, the rights of the lower order were fairly secured against 
oppressive and partisan decisions on the part of the magistrates, 
and against party fraud in the taking of the auspices and in the 
regulation of the calendar. There was now political equality 
between the nobility and the commonalty. 

Wars for the Mastery of Italy. 

The First Samnite War (343-341 b.c). — The union of the two 
orders in the state allowed the Romans now to employ their un- 
divided strength in subjugating the different states of the peninsula. 
The most formidable competitors of the Romans for supremacy in 
Italy were the Samnites, rough and warlike mountaineers who held 
the Apennines to the east of Latium. They were worthy rivals of 




THE AGER ROMANUS AFTER THE LATIN WAR, B. C. 338. 



SCALE OF MILES 



10 



20 



The Ager Bomanus. 

The dates annexed to townt are those of their annexation. 

Latin Colonies. 

JTie dates are (hose of their foundation. 



REVOLT OF THE LATIN CITIES. 



37 



the " Children of Mars." The successive struggles between these 
martial races are known as the First, Second, and Third Samnite 
wars. They extended over a period of half a century, and in their 
course involved almost all the states of Italy. 

Of the first of this series of wars we know very little, although 
Livy wrote a long, but unfortunately very unrehable, narration of 
it. In the midst of the struggle, Rome was confronted by a dan- 
gerous revolt of her Latin 
allies, and, leaving the war 
unfinished, turned her 
forces upon the insur- 
gents. 

Revolt of the Latin 
Cities (340-338 B.C.).— 
The strife between the 
Romans and their Latin 
allies was simply the old 
contest within the walls of 
the capital between the 
patricians and the ple- 
beians transferred to a 
larger arena. As the no- 
bles had oppressed the 
commons, so now both 
these orders united in the 
oppression of the Latins 
— the plebeians in their 
bettered circumstances 
forgetting the lessons of 
adversity. The Latin al- 
lies demanded a share in the government, and that the lands 
acquired by conquest should be distributed among them as well 
as among Roman citizens. The Romans refused. All Latium 
rose in revolt against the injustice and tyranny of the oppressor. 

After about three years' hard fighting, the rebellion was sub- 




SAMNITE WARRIOR. (From a Vase.) 



38 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

dued. The Latin League was now broken up. Four of the 
towns ^ retained their independence ; the others, however, were 
made a part of the Roman domain. The inhabitants of some of 
these latter cities were admitted to full Roman citizenship, but 
those of the remainder were reduced virtually to the condition of 
subjects.^ Rome, in a word, had converted the confederacy into 
an empire, just as Athens a hundred years earlier converted the 
Delian League into an imperial domain.^ 

Second and Third Samnite Wars (326-290 b.c). — In a few 
years after the close of the Latin contest, the Romans were at war 
again with their old rivals, the Samnites. Notwithstanding the 
latter were thoroughly defeated in this second contest, still it was 
not long before they were again in arms and engaged in their third 
struggle with Rome. This time they had formed a powerful co- 
alition which embraced the Etruscans, the Umbrians, the Gauls, 
and other nations. 

Roman courage rose with the danger. The united armies of 
the league met with a most disastrous defeat (at Sentinum, 295 
B.C.), and the power of the coalition was broken. One after an- 
other the states that had joined the alliance were chastised. The 
Gauls were routed, the Etruscans were crushed, and the Samnites 
were forced to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome. A few 
years later, almost all of the Greek cities of Southern Italy, save 
Tarentum, also came under the growing power of the imperial 
city. 

War with Pyrrhns (282-272 b.c). — Tarentum was one of the 
most noted of the Hellenic cities of Magna Graecia. It was a 

1 Tibur, Prseneste, Cora, and Laurentum. Compare maps on pp. 29 and 36. 

2 They retained, however, the right of managing their own local affairs. 
" A town annexed to Rome on these terms, losing its sovereignty and becom- 
ing a part of the Roman state, but retaining self-government in local concerns, 
was called a municipium. This device, the rmaiicipality, for combining local 
self-government with imperial relations, is the most important contribution 
made by Rome to political science." — Allen's Short History of the Roman 
People, p. 82. ^ See Eastern Nations and Greece, p. 230. 



IVAJ? WITH PYKRHUS. 39 

seaport on the Calabrian coast, and had grown opulent through 
the extended trade of its merchants. The capture of some 
Roman vessels, and an insult offered to an envoy of the republic 
by the Tarentines, led to a declaration of war against them by the 
Roman Senate. The Tarentines turned to Greece for aid. 
Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, cousin of Alexander the Great, who had 
an ambition to build up such an empire in the West as his famous 
kinsman had established in the East, responded to their entreaties, 
and crossed over into Italy with a small army of Greek merce- 
naries and twenty war elephants. He organized and drilled the 
effeminate Tarentines, and soon felt prepared to face the Romans. 

The hostile armies met at Heraclea (280 B.C.). It is said that 
when Pyrrhus, who had underestimated his foe, observed the skill 
which the Romans evinced in forming their lines of battle, he 
exclaimed, in admiration, " In war, at least, these men are not 
barbarians." The battle was won for Pyrrhus by his war ele- 
phants, the sight of which, being new to the Romans, caused 
them to flee from the field in dismay. But pyrrhus had lost 
thousands of his bravest troops. Victories gained by such losses 
in a country where he could not recruit his army, he saw clearly, 
meant final defeat. As he looked over the battle-field he is said 
to have turned to his companions and remarked, " Another such 
victory and I must return to Epirus alone." He noticed also, 
and not without appreciating its significance, that the wounds of 
the Roman soldiers killed in the action were all in front. " Had 
I such soldiers," said he, "I should soon be master of the 
world." ^ 

The prudence of the victorious Pyrrhus led him to send to 
the Romans proposals of peace. The embassy was headed by 
his chief minister, Cineas, of whom Pyrrhus himself often said, 
"The eloquence of Cineas wins me more victories than my sword." 

1 Beneath the spoils which he hung as an offering in the Temple of Jupiter 
at Tarentum he placed this inscription : — 

" Those that had never been vanquished yet, Great Father of Olympus, 
Those have I vanquished in the fight, and they have vanquished me," 



40 THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

When the Senate hesitated, its resolution was fixed by the elo- 
quence of the aged Appius Claudius: "Rome," exclaimed he, 
" shall never treat with a victorious foe." The ambassadors were 
obliged to return to Pyrrhus unsuccessful in their mission. It was 
at this time that Cineas, in answer to some inquiries of his master 
respecting the Romans, drew the celebrated parallels that likened 
their Senate to an assembly of kings, and war against such a 
people to an attack upon another Hydra. 

Pyrrhus, according to the Roman story-tellers, who most lav- 
ishly embellished this chapter of their history, was not more 
successful in attempts at bribery than in the arts of negotiation. 
Attempting by large offers of gold to win Fabricius, who had been 
intrusted by the Senate with an important embassy, the sturdy 
old Roman replied, " Poverty, with an honest name, is more to 
be desired than wealth." 

Another story relates how, when the physician of Pyrrhus went 
to Fabricius and offered to poison his enemy, Fabricius instantly 
put the perfidious man in chains, and sent him back to his master 
for punishment. The sequel of this story is that Pyrrhus con- 
ceived such an exalted opinion of the Roman sense of honor that 
he permitted the prisoners in his hands to go to the capital to 
attend a festival, with no other security for their return than their 
simple promise, and that not a single man broke his word. 

After a second victory, as disastrous as his first, Pyrrhus crossed 
over into Sicily, to aid the Grecians there in their struggle with 
the Carthaginians. At first he was everywhere successful; but 
finally fortune turned against him, and he was glad to escape from 
the island. Recrossing the straits into Italy, he once more en- 
gaged the Romans, but at the battle of Beneventum suffered a 
disastrous and final defeat at the hands of the consul Curius Den- 
tatus (274 B.C.). Leaving a sufficient force to garrison Tarentum, 
the baffled and disappointed king set sail for Epirus. He had 
scarcely embarked before Tarentum surrendered to the Romans 
(272 B.C.). This ended the struggle for the mastery of Italy. 
Rome was now mistress of all the peninsula south of the Arnus 



IVAA' WITH PVRRHUS. 41 

and the Rubicon. It was now her care to consohdate these 
possessions, and to fasten her hold upon them by means of a 
perfect network of colonies ^ and mihtary roads. 

1 " Colonies were not all of the same character. They must be distinguished 
into two classes, — the colonies of Roman citizens and the Latin colonies. The 
colonies of Roman citizens consisted usually of three hundred men of approved 
military experience, who went forth with their families to occupy conquered 
cities of no great magnitude, but which were important as military positions, 
being usually on the sea-coast. These three hundred families formed a sort 
of patrician caste, while the old inhabitants sank into the condition formerly 
occupied by the plebeians at Rome. The heads of these families retained all 
their rights as Roman citizens, and might repair to Rome to vote in the popu- 
lar assemblies." — Liddell's History of Rome. 

The Latin colonies numbered about twenty at the time of the Second Punic 
War. A few of these were colonies that had been founded by the old Latin 
Confederacy; but the most were towns that had been established by Rome 
subsequent to the dissolution of the league (see p. 38). The term Latin was 
applied to these later colonies of purely Roman origin, for the reason that they 
enjoyed the same rights as the Latin towns that had retained their indepen- 
dence. Thus the inhabitants of a Latin colony possessed some of the most 
valuable of the private rights of Roman citizens, but they had no political 
rights at the capital. 



42 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. 

(264-241 B.C.) 

Carthage and the Carthaginian Empire. — Foremost among 
the cities founded by the Phoenicians upon the different shores of 
the Mediterranean was Carthage, upon the northern coast of 
Africa. The city is thought to have had it's beginnings in a small 
trading-post, established late in the ninth century B.C., about one 
hundred years before the legendary date of the founding of Rome. 
The favorable location of the colony, upon one of the best harbors 
of the African coast, gave the city a vast and lucrative commerce. 
At the period which we have now reached it had grown into an 
imperial city, covering, with its gardens and suburbs, a district 
twenty-three miles in circuit. It could not have contained less 
than 1,000,000 inhabitants. A commercial enterprise like that 
of the mother city, Tyre, and exactions from subject cities and 
states — for three hundred Libyan cities acknowledged the suze- 
rainty of Carthage aCnd paid tribute into its treasury — had ren- 
dered it enormously wealthy. In the third century before our era 
it was probably the richest city in the world. 

By the time Rome had extended her authority over Italy, Car- 
thage held sway, through peaceful colonization or by force of 
arms, over all the northern coast of Africa from the Greater Syrtis 
to the Pillars of Hercules, and possessed the larger part of Sicily, 
as well as Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Isles, Southern Spain, 
and scores of little islands scattered here and there in the neigh- 
boring seas. With all its shores dotted with her colonies and 
fortresses, and swept in every direction by the Carthaginian war- 
galleys, the Western Mediterranean had become a " Phoenician 



GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION. 43 

lake," in which, as the Carthaginians boasted, no one dared wash 
his hands without their permission. 

Carthaginian Government and Religion. — The government 
of Carthage, hke that of Rome, was repubUcan in form. Corre- 
sponding to the Roman consuls, two magistrates, called " suffetes," 
stood at the head of the state. The Senate was composed of the 
heads of the leading families ; its duties and powers were very like 
those of the Roman Senate. So well-balanced was the constitu- 
tion, and so prudent was its administration, that six hundred years 
of Carthaginian history exhibited not a single revolution. 

The religion of the Carthaginians was the old Canaanitish wor- 
ship of Baal, or the Sun. To Moloch, — another name for the 
fire-god, — " who rejoiced in human victims and in parents' tears," 
they offered human sacrifices. 

Rome and Carthage compared. — These two great republics, 
which for more than five centuries had been slowly extending 
their limits and maturing their powers upon the opposite shores 
of the Mediterranean, were now about to begin one of the most 
memorable struggles of all antiquity — a duel that was to last, with 
every vicissitude of fortune, for over one hundred years. 

As was the case in the contest between Athens and Sparta, so 
now the two rival cities, with their allies and dependencies, were 
very nearly matched in strength and resources. The Romans, it 
is true, were almost destitute of a navy ; while the Carthaginians 
had the largest and most splendidly equipped fleet that ever 
patrolled the waters of the Mediterranean. But although the 
Carthaginians were superior to the Romans in naval warfare, they 
were greatly their inferiors in land encounters. The Carthaginian 
territory, moreover, was widely scattered, embracing extended 
coasts and isolated islands ; while the Roman possessions were 
compact, and confined to a single and easily defended peninsula. 
Again, the Carthaginian armies were formed chiefly of mercenaries, 
while those of Rome were recruited very largely from the ranks of 
the Roman people. And then the subject states of Carthage were 
mostly of another race, language, and religion from their Phoeni- 



44 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. 

cian conquerors, and were ready, upon the first disaster to the 
ruHng city, to drop away from their allegiance ; while the Latin 
aUies and Italian dependencies of Rome were close kindred to her 
in race and religion, and so, through natural impulse, for the most 
part remained loyal to her during even the darkest periods of her 
struggle with her rival. 

The Beginning of the War. — Lying between Italy and the 
coast of Africa is the large island of Sicily. It is in easy sight of 
the former, and its southernmost point is only ninety miles from' 
the latter. At the commencement of the First Punic ^ War, the 
Carthaginians held possession of all the island save a strip of the 
eastern coast, which was under the sway of the Greek city of Syra- 
cuse. The Greeks and Carthaginians had carried on an almost 
uninterrupted struggle through two centuries for the control of the 
island. The Romans had not yet set foot upon it. But it was 
destined to become the scene of the most terrible encounters be- 
tween the armaments of the two rivals. Pyrrhus had foreseen it 
all. As he withdrew from the island, he remarked, " What a fine 
battle-field we are leaving for the Romans and the Carthaginians." 

In the year 264 B.C., on a flimsy pretext of giving protection to 
some friends,^ the Romans crossed over to the island. That act 

1 From Poeni, Latin for Phoenicians, and hence applied by the Romans to 
the Carthaginians, as they were Phoenician colonists. 

2 During the war with Pyrrhus, some Campanians, who had been serving as 
mercenaries in the army of the king of Syracuse, while returning to Italy, 
conceived the project of seizing the town of Messana, on the Sicilian Straits. 
They killed the citizens, intrenched themselves in the place, and commenced 
to annoy the surrounding country with their marauding bands. Hiero, king 
of Syracuse, besieged the ruffians in their stronghold. The Mamertines, or 
" Sons of Mars," — for thus they termed themselves, — appealed to the Romans 
for aid, basing their claims to assistance upon the alleged fact of common 
descent from the war-god. Now the Romans had just punished a similar band 
of Campanian robbers who had seized Rhegium, on the Italian side of the chan- 
nel. To turn about now and lend aid to the Sicilian band would be the great- 
est inconsistency. But in case they did not give the assistance asked, it was 
certain that the Mamertines would look to the Carthaginians for succor; and 
so Messana would come into the hands of their rivals. 



THE ROMANS BUILD A FLEET. 45 

committed them to a career of foreign conquest destined to con- 
tinue till their arms had made the circuit of the Mediterranean. 

The Syracusans and Carthaginians, old enemies and rivals 
though they had been, joined their forces against the insolent 
new-comers. The allies were completely defeated in the first 
battle, and the Roman army obtained a sure foothold upon the 
island. 

In the following year both consuls were placed at the head 
of formidable armies for the conquest of Sicily. A large portion 
of the island was quickly overrun, and many of the cities threw off 
their allegiance to Syracuse and Carthage, and became alUes of 
Rome. Hiero, king of Syracuse, seeing that he was upon the 
losing side, deserted the cause of the Carthaginians, and formed 
an alliance with the Romans, and ever after remained their firm 
friend. 

The Romans build their First Fleet. — Their experience dur- 
ing the past campaigns had shown the Romans that if they were 
to cope successfully with the Carthaginians they must be able to 
meet them upon the sea as well as upon the land. Not only did 
the Carthaginian ships annoy the Sicilian coast towns which were 
already in the hands of the Romans, but they even made descents 
upon the shores of Italy, ravaged the fields and villages, and sailed 
away with their booty before pursuit was possible. To guard their 
shores and ward off these attacks, the Romans had no fleet. Their 
Greek and Etruscan aUies were, indeed, maritime peoples, and pos- 
sessed considerable fleets, which were at the disposal of the Romans. 
But these vessels were merely triremes, galleys with three banks of 
oars ; while the Carthaginian ships were quinqueremes, or vessels 
with five rows of oars. The former were worthless to cope with 
the latter, such an advantage did these have in their greater weight 
and height. So the Romans determined to build a fleet of quin- 
queremes. 

Now it so happened that, a little while before, a Carthaginian 
galley had been wrecked upon the shore of Southern Italy. This 
served as a pattern. It is said that within the almost incredibly 



46 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. 

short space of sixty days a growing forest was converted into a 
fleet of one hundred and twenty war-galleys. While the ships 
were building, the Roman soldiers were being trained in the duties 
of sailors by practising in rowing, while sitting in lines on tiers of 
benches built on the land. With the shore ringing with the 
sounds of the hurried work upon the galleys, and crowded with 
the groups of *' make-believe rowers," the scene must have been a 
somewhat animated as well as ludicrous one. Yet it all meant 
very serious business. 

The Romans gain their First Naval Victory (260 b.c). — 
The consul C. Duillius was intrusted with the command of the 
fleet. He met the Carthaginian squadron near the city and prom- 
ontory of Mylae, on the northern coast of Sicily. A single pre- 
caution gave the victory to the Romans. Distrusting their ability 
to match the skill of their enemies in manoeuvring their ships, they 
had provided each with a drawbridge, over thirty feet in length, 
and wide enough for two persons to pass over it abreast. It was 
raised and lowered by means of pulleys attached to the mast. 
The Carthaginian galleys bore down swiftly upon the Roman ships, 
thinking to pierce and sink with their brazen beaks the clumsy- 
looking structures. The bridges alone saved the Roman fleet 
from destruction. As soon as a Carthaginian ship came near 
enough to a Roman vessel, the gangway was allowed to fall upon 
the approaching galley ; and the long spike with which the end 
was armed, piercing the deck, instantly pinned the vessels together. 
The Roman soldiers, rushing along the bridge, were soon engaged 
in a hand-to-hand conflict with their enemies, in which species of 
encounter the former were sure of an easy victory. Fifty of the 
Carthaginian galleys were captured ; the remainder — there were 
one hundred and thirty ships in the fleet — wisely refusing to rush 
into the terrible and fatal embrace in which they had seen their 
companions locked, turned their prows in flight. 

The Romans had gained their first naval victory. The joy 
at Rome was unbounded. It inspired, in the more sanguine, 
splendid visions of maritime command and glory. The Medi- 



THE WAR CARRIED INTO AFRICA. 



47 



terranean should speedily become a Roman lake, in which no 
vessel might float without the consent of Rome. Duillius was 
honored with a magnificent triumph, and the Senate ordained 
that, in passing through the city to his home at night, he should 
always be escorted with torches and music. In the Forum was 
raised a splendid memorial column, "adorned with the brazen 
beaks of the vessels which his wise 
ignorance and his clumsy skill had en- 
abled him to capture." 

The Romans carry the War into 
Africa. — The results of the naval en- 
gagement at Mylse encouraged the 
Romans to push the war with re- 
doubled energy. They resolved to carry 
it into Africa. An immense Cartha- 
ginian fleet that disputed the passage 
of the Roman squadron was almost 
annihilated,^ and the Romans disem- 
barked near Carthage. Atilius Regu- 
lus, one of the consuls who led the 
army of invasion, sent word to Rome 
that he had "sealed up the gates of 
Carthage with terror." Finally, how- 
ever, Regulus suffered a crushing defeat 
and was made prisoner.^ A fleet which 
was sent to bear away the remnants 
of the shattered army was wrecked in a terrific storm ofl" the 
coast of Sicily, and the shores of the island were strewn with the 
wreckage of between two and three hundred ships and with the 
bodies of 100,000 men. 

Undismayed at the terrible disaster that had overtaken the 

1 Near the Sicilian promontory of Ecnomus, 256 B.C. 

2 The Carthaginians were at this time commanded by an able Spartan gen- 
eral, Xanthippus, who, with a small but disciplined band of Greek mercenaries, 
had entered their service. 




THE COLUMN OF DUILLIUS. 
(A Restoration.) 



48 THE FIRST TUNIC WAR. 

transport fleet, the Romans set to work to build another, and 
made a second descent upon the African coast. The expedition, 
however, accomplished nothing of importance ; and the fleet on 
its return voyage was almost destroyed, just off the coast of Italy, 
by a tremendous storm. The visions of naval supremacy awakened 
among the Romans by the splendid victories of Mylae and Ecnomus 
were thus suddenly dispelled by these two successive and appalling 
disasters that had overtaken their armaments. 

The Battle of Panormus (251 b.c). — For a few years the 
Romans refrained from tempting again the hostile powers of the 
sea. Sicily became the battle-ground where the war was con- 
tinued, although with but little spirit on either side, until the arrival 
in the island of the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal (251 B.C.). 
He brought with him one hundred and forty elephants trained 
in war. Of all the instruments of death which the Roman soldiers 
were accustomed to face, none in the history of the legionaries 
inspired them with such uncontrollable terror as these "wild 
beasts," as they termed them. The furious rage with which these 
monsters, themselves almost invulnerable to the darts of the enemy, 
swept down the opposing ranks with their trunks, and tossed and 
trampled to pieces the bodies of their victims, was indeed well 
calculated to inspire a most exaggerated dread. 

Beneath the walls of Panormus, the consul Metellus drew 
Hasdrubal into an engagement. He checked the terrific charge 
of the war elephants by' discharges of arrows dipped in flaming 
pitch, which caused the frightened animals to rush back upon and 
crush through the disordered ranks of the Carthaginians. The 
result was a complete victory for the Romans. After the battle 
the Romans induced the drivers of the elephants, which were 
roaming over the field in a sort of panic, to capture and quiet 
the creatures. Once in captivity, they were floated across the 
Sicilian Straits on huge rafts, and to the number of twenty graced 
the triumphal procession of Metellus. After having been led 
through the Forum and along the Via Sacra, they were conducted 
to the Circus, and there slain in the presence of the assembled 
multitudes. 



REGULUS. 49 

Regulus and the Carthaginian Embassy. — The result of the 

battle of Panormus dispirited the Carthaginians. They sent an 
embassy to Rome, to negotiate for peace, or, if that could not 
be reached, to effect an exchange of prisoners. Among the com- 
missioners was Regulus, who since his capture, five years before, 
had been held a prisoner in Africa. Before setting out from 
Carthage he had promised to return if the embassy were unsuc- 
cessful. For the sake of his own release, the Carthaginians sup- 
posed he would counsel peace, or at least urge an exchange of 
prisoners. But it is related, that upon arrival at Rome, he coun- 
selled war instead of peace, at the same time revealing to the 
Senate the enfeebled condition of Carthage. As to the exchange 
of prisoners, he said, " Let those who have surrendered when they 
ought to have died, die in the land which has witnessed their 
disgrace." 

The Roman Senate, following his counsel, rejected all the pro- 
posals of the embassy ; and Regulus, in spite of the tears and en- 
treaties of his wife and friends, turned away from Rome, and set 
out for Carthage to bear such fate as he well knew the Carthagin- 
ians, in their disappointment and anger, would be sure to visit upon 
him. 

The tradition goes on to tell how, upon his arrival at Carthage, 
he was confined in a cask driven full of spikes, and then left to 
die of starvation and pain. This part of the tale has been dis- 
credited, and the finest touches of the other portions are supposed 
to have been added by the story-tellers. 

Loss of Two More Roman Fleets. — After the failure of the 
Carthaginian embassy, the war went on for several years by land 
and sea with many vicissitudes. At last, on the coast of Sicily, 
one of the consuls, Claudius, met with an overwhelming defeat.^ 
Almost a hundred vessels of his fleet were lost. The disaster 
caused the greatest alarm at Rome. Superstition increased the 
fears of the people. It was reported that just before the battle, 

1 In a sea-fight at Drepana, 249 B.C. 



50 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. 

when the auspices were being taken, and the sacred chickens 
would not eat, Claudius had given orders to have them thrown 
into the sea, irreverently remarking, " At any rate, they shall drink." 
Imagination was free to depict what further evils the offended 
gods might inflict upon the Roman state. 

The gloomiest forebodings might have found justification in 
subsequent events. The other consul just now met with a great 
disaster. He was proceeding along the southern coast of Sicily 
with a squadron of eight hundred merchantmen and over one 
hundred war-galleys, the former loaded with grain for the Roman 
army on the island. A severe storm arising, the squadron was 
beaten to pieces upon the rocks. Not a single ship escaped. 
The coast for miles was strewn with broken planks, and with 
bodies, and heaped with vast windrows of grain cast up by the 
waves. 

Close of the First Punic War. — The war had now lasted for 
fifteen years. Four Roman fleets had been destroyed, three of 
which had been sunk or broken to pieces by storms. Of the 
fourteen hundred vessels which had been lost, seven hundred were 
war-galleys, — all large and costly quinqueremes, that is, vessels 
with five banks of oars. Only one hundred of these had fallen 
into the hands of the enemy ; the remainder were a sacrifice to 
the malign and hostile power of the waves. Such successive 
blows from an invisible hand were enough to blanch the faces 
even of the sturdy Romans. Neptune manifestly denied to the 
" Children of Mars " the realm of the sea. 

It was impossible for the six years following the last disaster to 
infuse any spirit into the struggle. In 247 B.C., Hamilcar Barcas, 
the father of the great Hannibal, assumed the command of the 
Carthaginian forces, and for several years conducted the war with 
great abihty on the island of Sicily, even making Rome tremble 
for the safety of her Italian possessions. 

Once more the Romans determined to commit their cause to 
'"he element that had been so unfriendly to them. A fleet of two 
hundred vessels was built and equipped, but entirely by private 



CLOSE OF THE WAR. SI 

subscription ; for the Senate feared that public sentiment would 
not sustain them in levying a tax for fitting up another costly 
armament as an offering to the insatiable Neptune. This people's 
squadron, as we may call it, was intrusted to the command of the 
consul Catulus. He met the Carthaginian fleet under the com- 
mand of the admiral Hanno, near the ^gatian Islands, and 
inflicted upon it a crushing defeat (241 B.C.). 

The Carthaginians now sued for peace. A treaty was at length 
arranged, the terms of which required that Carthage should give up 
all claims to the island of Sicily, surrender all her prisoners, and 
pay an indemnity of 3200 talents (about $4,000,000), one-third 
of which was to be paid down, and the balance in ten yearly pay- 
ments. Thus ended (241 B.C.), after a continuance of twenty- 
four years, the first great struggle between Carthage and Rome. 



52 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 

(218-201 B.C.) 

Rome between the First and the Second Punic War. 

The First Roman Province. — For the twenty- three years that 
followed the close of the first struggle between Rome and Car- 
thage, the two rivals strained every power and taxed every 
resource in preparation for a renewal of the contest. 

The Romans settled the affairs of Sicily, organizing all of it, 
save the lands belonging to Syracuse, as a province of the 
republic. This was the first territory beyond the limits of Italy 
that Rome had conquered, and the Sicilian the first of Roman 
provinces. But as the imperial city extended her conquests, her 
provincial possessions increased in number and size until they 
formed at last a perfect cordon about the Mediterranean. Each 
province was governed by a magistrate sent out from the capital, 
and paid an annual tribute, or tax, to Rome. 

Rome acquires Sardinia and Corsica. — The first acquisition 
by the Romans of lands beyond the peninsula seems to have 
created in them an insatiable ambition for foreign conquests. 
They soon found a pretext for seizing the island of Sardinia, 
the most ancient, and, after Sicily, the most prized of the pos- 
sessions of the Carthaginians. An insurrection breaking out 
upon the island, the Carthaginians were moving to suppress 
it, when the Romans insolently commanded them not only to 
desist from their military preparations (pretending that they 
believed them a threat against Rome), but to surrender Sardinia, 
and, moreover, to pay a fine of 1200 talents (^1,500,000). Car- 
thage, exhausted as she was, could do nothing but comply. 





THE MEDITERRANEAN LANDS 
at the beginning Of the 

SECOND PUNIC WAR. 

Boman Possessions and Allies I I Free Greek States I 1 

Carthaginian do I I Syrian Possessions I 1 

Macedonian do ' ' Egyptian do 1 1 



2S 



30 



3S 



40 



T 



50 




THE CORSAIRS ARE PUNISHED. 53 

The meanness and perfidy of the Romans in this matter made 
more bitter and implacable, if that were possible, the Cartha- 
ginian hatred of the Roman race. Sardinia, in connection 
with Corsica, which was also seized, was formed into a Roman 
province. With her hands upon these islands, the authority of 
Rome in the Western, or Tuscan Sea was supreme. 

The lUyrian Corsairs are punished. — In a more legitimate 
way the Romans extended their influence over the seas that 
wash the eastern shores of Italy. For a long time the Adriatic 
and Ionian waters had been infested with Illyrian pirates, who 
issued from the roadsteads of the northeastern coasts of the 
former sea. These buccaneers not only scoured the seas for 
merchantmen, but troubled the Hellenic towns along the shores 
of Greece, and were even so bold as to make descents upon 
the Italian coasts. The Roman fleet chased these corsairs 
from the Adriatic, and captured several of their strongholds. 
Rome now assumed a sort of protectorate over the Greek cities 
of the Adriatic coasts. This was her first step towards final 
supremacy in Macedonia and Greece. 

War with the Gauls. — In the north, during this same period, 
Roman authority was extended from the Apennines and the Ru- 
bicon to the foot of the Alps. Alarmed at the advance of the 
Romans, who were pushing northward their great military road, 
called the Flaminian Way, and also settling with discharged sol- 
diers and needy citizens the tracts of frontier land wrested some 
time before from the Gauls, the Boii, a tribe of that race, stirred up" 
all the GaUic peoples already in Italy, besides their kinsmen who 
were yet beyond the mountains, for an assault upon Rome. In- 
telligence of this movement among the northern tribes threw all 
Italy into a fever of excitement. At Rome the terror was great ; 
for not yet had died out of memory what the city had once suf- 
fered at the hands of the ancestors of these same barbarians that 
were now again gathering their hordes for sack and pillage. An 
ancient prediction, found in the Sibylline books, declared that a 
portion of Roman territory must needs be occupied by Gauls. 



54 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 

Hoping sufficiently to fulfil the prophecy and satisfy fate, the 
Roman Senate caused two Gauls to be buried alive in one of the 
public squares of the capital. 

Meanwhile the barbarians had advanced into Etruria, ravaging 
the country as they moved southward. After gathering a large 
amount of booty, they were carrying this back to a place of safety, 
when they were surrounded by the Roman armies at Telamon, and 
almost annihilated (225 B.C.). The Romans, taking advantage of 
this victory, pushed on into the plains of the Po, captured the city 
which is now known as Milan, and extended their authority to 
the foot-hills of the Alps. To guard the new territory, two mili- 
tary colonies, Placentia and Cremona, were established upon the 
opposite banks of the Po. 

Carthage between the First and the Second Punic War. 

The Truceless War. — Scarcely had peace been concluded with 
Rome at the end of the First Punic War, before Carthage was 
plunged into a still deadher struggle, which for a time threatened 
her very existence. The mercenary troops, upon their return from 
Sicily, revolted, on account of not receiving their pay. Their 
appeal to the native tribes of Africa was answered by a general 
uprising throughout the dependencies of Carthage. The extent 
of the revolt shows how hateful and hated was the rule of the great 
capital over her subject states. 

The war was unspeakably bitter and cruel. It is known in his- 
tory as ''The Truceless War." At one time Carthage was the only 
city remaining in the hands of the government. But the genius 
of the great Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barcas, at last tri- 
umphed, and the authority of Carthage was everywhere restored. 

The Carthaginians in Spain. — After the disastrous termination 
of the First Punic War, the Carthaginians determined to repair 
their losses by new conquests in Spain. Hamilcar Barcas was sent 
over into that country, and for nine years he devoted his com- 
manding genius to organizing the different Iberian tribes into a 



HANNTBAVS VOW. 55 

compact state, and to developing the rich gold and silver mines of 
the southern part of the peninsula. He fell in battle 228 b.c. 

Hamilcar Barcas was the greatest general that up to this time the 
Carthaginian race had produced. As a rule, genius is not trans- 
mitted ; but in the Barcine family the rule was broken, and the 
rare genius of Hamilcar reappeared in his sons, whom he himself, 
it is said, was fond of calling the " lion's brood." Hannibal, the 
oldest, was only nineteen at the time of his father's death, and 
being thus too young to assume command, Hasdrubal,^ the son- 
in-law of Hamilcar, was chosen to succeed him. He carried out 
the unfinished plans of Hamilcar, extended and consolidated the 
Carthaginian power in Spain, and upon the eastern coast founded 
New Carthage as the centre and capital of the newly acquired ter- 
ritory. The native tribes were conciliated rather than conquered. 
The Barcine family knew how to rule as well as how to fight. 

Hannibal's Vow. — Upon the death of Hasdrubal, which oc- 
curred 221 B.C., Hannibal, now twenty-six years of age, was by the 
unanimous voice of the army called to be their leader. When a 
child of nine years he had been led by his father to the altar ; and 
there, with his hands upon the sacrifice, the little boy had sworn 
eternal hatred to the Roman race. He was driven on to his 
gigantic undertakings and to his hard fate, not only by the restless 
fires of his warlike genius, but, as he himself declared, by the 
sacred obligations of a vow that could not be broken. 

Hannibal attacks Saguntum. — In two years Hannibal extended 
the Carthaginian power to the Ebro. Saguntum, a Greek city 
upon the east coast of Spain, alone remained unsubdued. The 
Romans, who were jealously watching affairs in the peninsula, had 
entered into an alliance with this city, and taken it, with other 
Greek cities in that quarter of the Mediterranean, under their pro- 
tection. Hannibal, although he well knew that an attack upon 
this place would precipitate hostilities with Rome, laid siege to it 

1 Not to be confounded with Hannibal's own brother, Hasdrubal. See 
p. 65. 



56 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 

in the spring of 219 b.c. He was eager for the renewal of the old 
contest. The Roman Senate sent messengers to him forbidding 
his making war upon a city which was a friend and ally of the 
Roman people ; but Hannibal, disregarding their remonstrances, 
continued the siege, and after an investment of eight months 
gained possession of the town. 

The Romans now sent commissioners to Carthage to demand 
of the Senate that they should give up Hannibal to them, and by 
so doing repudiate the act of their general. The Carthaginians 
hesitated. Then Quintus Fabius, chief of the embassy, gathering 
up his toga, said : " 1 carry here peace and war ; choose, men of 
Carthage, which ye will have." " Give us whichever ye will," was 
the reply. "War, then," said Fabius, dropping his toga. The 
" die was now cast ; and the arena was cleared for the foremost, 
perhaps the mightiest, mihtary genius of any race and of any 
time."^ 

The Second Punic War. 

Hannibal begins his March. — The Carthaginian empire was 
now stirred with preparations for the impending struggle. Han- 
nibal was the life and soul of every movement. He planned and 
executed. The Carthaginian Senate acquiesced in and tardily 
confirmed his acts. His bold plan was to cross the Pyrenees and 
the Alps and descend upon Rome from the north. He secured 
the provinces in Spain and Africa by placing garrisons of Iberians 
in Africa and of Libyans in the peninsula. Ambassadors were sent 
among the Gallic tribes on both sides of the Alps, to invite them to 
be ready to join the army that would soon set out from Spain. 

With these preparations completed, Hannibal left New Carthage 
early in the spring of 218 B.C., with an army numbering about 
100,000 men, and including thirty-seven war-elephants. A hostile 
country lay between him and the Pyrenees. Through the warlike 
tribes that resisted his march he forced his way to the foot of the 

1 Smith's Carthage and Rome, p. 114. 



58 



THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, 



mountains that guard the northern frontier of Spain. More than 
20,000 of his soldiers were lost in this part of his march. 

Passage of the Pyrenees and the Rhone. — Leaving a strong 
force to garrison the newly conquered lands, and discharging 
10,000 more of his men who had begun to murmur because of 
their hardships, he pushed on with the remainder across the 
Pyrenees, and led them down into the valley of the Rhone. The 
Gauls attempted to dispute the passage" of the river, but they 
were routed, and the army was ferried across the stream in native 

boats and on rudely constructed rafts. 
Passage of the Alps. — Hannibal 
now followed up the course of the 
Rhone, and then one of its eastern 
tributaries, the Isere, until he reached 
the foot-hills of the Alps, probably 
under the pass of the Little St. Ber- 
nard. Nature and man joined to op- 
pose the passage. The season was 
already far advanced, — it was Octo- 
ber, — and snow was falling upon the 
higher portions of the trail. Day after 
day the army toiled painfully up the 
dangerous path. In places the narrow 
way had to be cut wider for the 
monstrous bodies of the' elephants. Often avalanches of stone 
were hurled upon the trains by the hostile bands that held posses- 
sion of the heights above. hX. last the summit was gained, and 
the shivering army looked down into the warm haze of the Italian 
plains. The sight alone was enough to rouse the drooping spirits 
of the soldiers; but Hannibal stirred them to enthusiasm by 
addressing them with these words : "You are standing upon the 
Acropolis of Italy; yonder lies Rome." The army began its 
descent, and at length, after toils and losses equalled only by those 
of the ascent, its thin battalions issued from the defiles of the 
mountains upon the plains of the Po. Of the 50,000 men and 




HANNIBAL. 



ATTLES OF THE TICINUS, TREBIA, ETC. 59 

more with which Hannibal had begun the passage, barely half 
that number had survived the march, and these "looked more 
like phantoms than men." 

Battles of the Ticinus, the Trebia, and of Lake Trasime- 
nus. — The Romans had not the remotest idea of Hannibal's 
plans. With war determined upon, the Senate had sent one of 
the consuls, L. Sempronius Longus, with an army into Africa by 
the way of Sicily ; while the other, Publius Cornelius Scipio, they 
had directed to lead another army into Spain. 

While the Senate were watching the movements of these expe- 
ditions, they were startled with the intelligence that Hannibal, 
instead of being in Spain, had crossed the Pyrenees and w^s 
among the Gauls upon the Rhone. Sempronius was hastily 
recalled from his attempt upon Africa, to the defence of Italy. 
Scipio, on his way to Spain, had touched at Massilia, and there 
learned of the movements of Hannibal. He turned back, hur- 
ried into Northern Italy, and took command of the levies there. 
The cavalry of the two armies met upon the banks of the Ticinus, 
a tributary of the Po. The Romans were driven from the field 
by the fierce onset of the Numidian horsemen. Scipio now 
awaited the arrival of the other consular army, which was hurrying 
up through Italy by forced marches. 

In the battle of the Trebia (218 B.C.) the united armies of the 
two consuls were almost annihilated. The refugees that escaped 
from the field sought shelter behind the walls of Placentia. The 
Gauls, who had been waiting to see to which side fortune would 
incline, now flocked to the standard of Hannibal, and hailed him 
as their deliverer. 

The spring following the victory at the Trebia, Hannibal led 
his army, now recruited by many Gauls, across the Apennines, 
and moved southward. At Lake Trasimenus he entrapped the 
Romans under Flaminius in a mountain defile, where, bewildered 
by a fog that filled the valley, the greater part of the army was 
slaughtered, and the consul himself was slain. 

Hannibal's Policy. — The way to Rome was now open. Be- 



60 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 

lieving that Hannibal would march directly upon the capital, the 
Senate caused the bridges that spanned the Tiber to be destroyed, 
and appointed Fabius Maximus dictator. But Hannibal did not 
deem it wise to throw his troops against the walls of Rome. 
Crossing the Apennines, he touched the Adriatic at Picenum, 
whence he sent messages to Carthage of his wonderful achieve- 
ments. Here he rested his army after a march that has few 
parallels in the annals of war. 

In one respect only had events disappointed Hannibal's ex- 
pectations. He had thought that all the states of Italy were, like 
the Gauls, ready to revolt from Rome at the first opportunity that 
might offer itself. But not a single city had thus far proved 
unfaithful to Rome. The aid which Hannibal expected from the 
Italians, and which he invited by the kindest treatment of those 
who fell into his hands as prisoners, he was destined never to 
receive. 

Fabius "the Delayer." — The dictator Fabius, at the head of 
four new legions, started in pursuit of Hannibal, who was again on 
the move. The fate of Rome was in the hands of Fabius. Should 
he risk a battle and lose it, the destiny of the capital would be 
sealed. He determined to adopt a more prudent policy — to 
follow and annoy the Carthaginian army, but to refuse all proffers 
of battle. Thus time might be gained for raising a new army 
and perfecting measures for the public defence. In every possible 
way Hannibal endeavored to draw his enemy into an engagement. 
He ravaged the fields far and wide and fired the homesteads of 
the Italians, in order to force Fabius to fight in their defence. 
The soldiers of the dictator began to murmur. They called him 
Cunctator, or " the Delayer." They even accused him of treach- 
ery to the cause of Rome. But nothing moved him from the 
steady pursuit of the policy which he clearly saw was the only 
prudent one to follow. Hannibal marched through Samnium, 
desolating the country as he went, and then descended upon the 
rich plains of Campania. Fabius followed him closely, and from 
the mountains, which he would not allow his soldiers to leave, they 



THE POLICY OF FAB I US VINDICATED. 61 

were obliged to watch, with such cahnness as they might com- 
mand, the devastations of the enemy going on beneath their very 
eyes. They besought Fabius to lead them down upon the plain, 
where they might at least strike a blow in defence of their homes. 
Fabius was unmoved by their clamor. He planned, however, to 
entrap Hannibal. Knowing that the enemy could not support 
themselves in Campania through the approaching winter, but 
must recross the mountains into ApuHa, he placed a strong guard 
in the pass by which they must retreat, and then quietly awaited 
their movements. Hannibal, we are told, resorted to stratagem 
to draw away the defenders of the mountain path. To the horns 
of two thousand oxen he caused burning torches to be fastened, 
and then these animals were driven one night up among the hills 
that overhung the pass. These creatures, frantic with pain and 
fright, rushed along the ranges that bordered the pass, and led 
the watchers there to beUeve that the Carthaginians were forcing 
their way over the hills in a grand rush. Straightway the guardians 
of the pass left their position to intercept the flying enemy. While 
they were pursuing the cattle, Hannibal marched quietly with all 
his booty through the unguarded defile, and escaped into Samnium. 
The Policy of Fabius vindicated. — The escape of the Car- 
thaginian army caused the smothered discontent with Fabius and 
his policy to break out into open opposition, both among the citi- 
zens at the capital and the soldiers in the camp. Minucius, com- 
mander of the cavalry, disobeyed the orders of the dictator to 
refrain from any engagement with the enemy, and was so fortunate 
as to gain a slight success. This brought matters to a crisis. By 
a vote of the public assembly Minucius was made co-dictator with 
Fabius. He now sought an engagement with the Carthaginians. 
An opportunity soon presented itself. But fortune was against 
him ; and had it not been for the timely assistance of Fabius, his 
forces would have been cut to pieces. Minucius at once acknowl- 
edged the rashness of his policy, and took again his old position 
as a subordinate ; while Fabius, by universal acclamation, was 
declared the " Savior of Rome." 



62 



mE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 



The Battle of Cannae (216 b.c). — The time gained by Fabius 
had enabled the Romans to raise and discipHne an army that 
might hope to combat successfully the Carthaginian forces. Early 
in the summer of the year 216 B.C., these new levies, number- 
ing 80,000 men, under the command of the two consuls,^ con- 
fronted the army of Hannibal, amounting to not more than half 
that number, at Cannae, in Apulia. It was the largest army the 




PLAN OF THE 

BATTLE OF CAKN^ 

AFTER STRACHEN-DAVIDSON. 



GREATER ROMAN CAMP 



LESSER 
ROMAN CAMP 



-^S'&. 






ny 






"^ 






Romans had ever gathered on any battle-field. But it had been 
collected only to meet the most overwhelming defeat that ever 
befell the forces of the republic. Through the skilful manoeu- 
vres of Hannibal, the Romans were completely surrounded, and 

1 The dictatorship of Fabius Maximus had expired. The patrician consul 
was named Lucius yEmilius Paulus; the plebeian, Gaius Terentius Varro. 
They were divided in counsel, and it was the rashness of Varro that precipi- 
tated the battle. The yearly change of their chief magistrates was a source of 
weakness and loss to the Romans in time of war. The popular vote frequently 
failed to secure experienced generals. Demagogues often controlled the elec- 
tion, as at Athens in the times of Cleon and Alcibiades. See Eastern Nations 
and Greece, pp. 245-248. 



events; AETER the battle OE CANNJi. 63 

huddled together in a helpless mass upon the field, and then for 
eight hours were cut down by the Numidian cavalry. From fifty 
to seventy thousand were slain ; a few thousand were taken pris- 
oners ; only the merest handful escaped, including one of the 
consuls. The slaughter was so great that, according to Livy, when 
Mago, a brother of Hannibal, carried the news of the victory to 
Carthage, he, in confirmation of the intelligence, poured down in 
the porch of the Senate-house nearly a peck of gold rings taken 
from the fingers of Roman knights. 

Events after the Battle of Cannse. — The awful news flew to 
Rome. Consternation and despair seized the people. The city 
would have been emptied of its population had not the Senate 
ordered the gates to be closed. Never did that body display 
greater calmness, wisdom, prudence, and resolution. By word 
and act they bade the people never to despair of the republic. 
Little by little the panic was allayed. Measures were concerted- 
for the defence of the capital, as it was expected that Hannibal 
would immediately march upon Rome. Swift horsemen were 
sent out along the Appian Way to gather information of the con- 
queror's movements, and to learn, as Livy expresses it, '' if the 
immortal gods, out of pity to the empire, had left any remnant of 
the Roman name." 

The leader of the Numidian cavalry, Maharbal, urged Hanni- 
bal to follow up his victory closely. " Let me advance with the 
cavalry," said he, "and in five days thou shalt dine in the capi- 
tal." But Hannibal refused to adopt the counsel of his impetuous 
general. Maharbal turned away, and with mingled reproach and 
impatience exclaimed, "Alas ! thou knowest how to gain a vic- 
tory, but not how to use one." The great commander, while he 
knew he was invincible in the open field, did not think it pnident 
to fight the Romans behind their walls. 

Hannibal now sent an embassy to Rome to offer terms of peace. 
The Senate, true to the Appian policy never to treat with a vic- 
torious enemy (see p. 40), would not even permit the ambassa- 
dors to enter the gates. Not less disappointed was Hannibal in 



64 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 

the temper of the Roman allies. For the most part they adhered 
to the cause of Rome with unshaken loyalty through all these 
trying times. Some tribes in the south of Italy, however, among 
which were the Lucanians, the Apulians, and the Bruttians, went 
over to the Carthaginians. Hannibal marched into Campania and 
quartered his army for the winter in the luxurious city of Capua,^ 
which had opened its gates to him. Here he rested and sent 
urgent messages to Carthage for reinforcements, while Rome ex- 
hausted every resource in raising and equipping new levies, to 
take the place of the legions lost at Cannae. For several years 
there was an ominous lull in the war, while both parties were 
gathering strength for a renewal of the struggle. 

The Fall of Syracuse and of Capua. — In the year 216 B.C., 
Hiero, king of Syracuse, who loved to call himself the friend and 
ally of the Roman people, died, and the government fell into the 
hands of a party unfriendly to the republic. An alliance was 
formed with Carthage, and a large part of Sicily was carried over 
to the side of the enemies of Rome. The distinguished Roman 
general, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, called " the Sword of Rome," 
was intrusted with the task of reconquering the island. After 
reducing many towns, he at last laid siege to Syracuse. 

This noted capital was then one of the largest and richest cities 
of the Grecian world. Its walls were strong, and enclosed an area 
eighteen miles in circuit. For three years it held out against the 
Roman forces. It is said that Archimedes, the great mathema- 
tician, rendered valuable aid to the besieged with curious and 
powerful engines contrived by his genius. But the city fell at last, 

1 Hannibal's soldiers, according to Livy, were fatally enervated both in their 
bodies and their minds by the influences of this Sybarite capital. The winter 
was spent by them in a round of feasting, drinking, bathing, and indulgences 
of all kinds, so that almost every trace of former vigor and discipline was lost. 
It is the opinion of persons versed in the art of war, adds the historian, that 
Hannibal, in taking up his winter quarters in Capua, committed a greater error 
than when he neglected to march upon Rome after the battle of Cannae. 
XXHI. 18. 



THE FALL OF SYRACUSE, 



65 





MARCELLUS, "The Sword of Rome." 



and was given over to sack and pillage. Rome was adorned 
with the rare works of Grecian art — paintings and sculptures — 
which for centuries had been 
accumulating in this the oldest 
and most renowned of the col- 
onies of ancient Hellas. Syra- 
cuse never recovered from the 
blow inflicted upon her at this 
time by the relentless Romans. 

Capua must next be punished for opening her gates and ex- 
tending her hospitalities to the enemies of Rome. A line of cir- 
cumvallation was drawn about the devoted city, and two Roman 
armies held it in close siege. Hannibal, ever faithful to his allies 
and friends, hastened to the rehef of the Capuans. Unable to 
break the enemy's lines, he marched directly upon Rome, as if 
to make an attack upon that city, hoping thus to draw off the 
legions about Capua to the defence of the capital. The *' dread 
Hannibal " himself rode alongside the walls of the hated city, and, 
tradition says, even hurled a defiant spear over the defences. 
The Romans certainly were trembling with fear ; yet Livy tells 
how they manifested their confidence in their affairs by selling at 
public auction the land upon which Hannibal was encamped. 
He in turn, in the same manner, disposed of the shops fronting 
the Forum. The story is that there were eager purchasers in 
both cases. 

Faihng to draw the legions from Capua as he had hoped, Han- 
nibal now retired from before Rome, and, retreating into the 
southern part of Italy, abandoned Capua to its fate. It soon fell 
and paid the penalty that Rome never failed to inflict upon an 
unfaithful ally. The chief men in the city were put to death, and 
a large part of the inhabitants sold as slaves (211 b.c). Capua 
had aspired to the first place among the cities of Italy : scarcely 
more than the name of the ambitious capital now remained. 

Hasdrubal in Spain. — During all the years Hannibal was 
waging war in Italy, his brother Hasdrubal was carrying on a 



66 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 

desperate struggle with the Romans in Spain. His plan was to 
gather and lead an army into Italy to the aid of his brother. This 
the Romans made every effort to prevent. Hence, even while 
Hannibal was threatening Rome itself, we find the Senate sending 
its best legions and generals across the sea into Spain. But Has- 
drubal possessed much of the martial genius of his brother, and 
proved more than a match for the Scipios who commanded the 
Roman levies. Yet the fortunes of war were more fickle here 
than in Italy. At one time the Carthaginians were almost driven 
out of the peninsula ; and then the whole was regained by the 
genius of Hasdrubal, and the two Scipios^ were slain. Another 
army, under the command of Publius Cornelius Scipio, was sent 
to regain it and keep Hasdrubal engaged. The war was renewed, 
but without decided results on either side, and Hasdrubal deter- 
mined to leave its conduct to others, and go to the relief of his 
brother, who was sadly in need of aid ; for the calamities of war 
were constantly thinning his ranks. Like Pyrrhus, he had been 
brought to realize that even constant victories won by the loss of 
soldiers that could not be replaced meant final defeat. 

Battle of the Metaurus (207 b.c). — Hasdrubal followed the 
same route that had been taken by his brother Hannibal, and in 
the year 207 B.C. descended from the Alps upon the plains of 
Northern Italy, Thence he advanced southward, while Hannibal 
moved northward from Bruttium to meet him. Rome made a 
last effort to ward off the double danger. One hundred and forty 
thousand men were put into the field. One of the consuls, Gains 
Claudius Nero, was to obstruct Hannibal's march ; while the other, 
Marcus Livius, was to oppose Hasdrubal in the north. The great 
effort of the Roman generals was to prevent the junction of the 
armies of the two brothers. Hasdrubal pressed on southward and 
crossed the Metaurus. From here he sent a message to Han- 
nibal, appointing a meeting-place only two days' march from 

1 Publius and Gnaeus Scipio, brothers. Publius Cornelius Scipio was the 
son of the aforementioned Publius Scipio. 



IVA/^ IN AFRICA. 



67 



Rome. The messenger fell into the hands of the consul Nero. 
In a moment Nero's plan was formed. With seven thousand 
picked soldiers he hastened northward, to join the other consul 
and, with their united forces, to crush Hasdrubal before his 
brother should know of the movement. In a few days Nero 
reached the camp of his colleague Livius, in front of which lay 
the Carthaginian army. As the soldiers of Nero entered the 
camp of his associate in the night, Hasdrubal knew nothing of 
their arrival until the next morning, when he observed that the 
trumpet sounded twice from the enemy's camp. Fearing to risk 
a battle, he attempt- 
ed to fall back across 
the Metaurus. Mis- 
led by his guides, he 
was forced to turn 
and give battle to 
the pursuing Romans. 
His army was entire- 
ly destroyed, and he 
himself was slain 
(207 B.c). 

Nero now hurried 
back to face Hanni- 
bal, bearing with him the head of Hasdrubal. This bloody tro- 
phy he caused to be hurled into the Carthaginian camp. Upon 
recognizing the features of his brother, Hannibal exclaimed sadly, 
*' Carthage, I see thy fate." 

War in Africa: Battle of Zama (202 b.c). — The defeat and 
death of Hasdrubal gave a different aspect to the war. Hannibal 
now drew back into the rocky peninsula of Bruttium, the southern- 
most point of Italy. There he faced the Romans like a lion at 
bay. No one dared attack him. It was resolved to carry the 
war into Africa, in hopes that the Carthaginians would be forced 
to call their great commander out of Italy to the defence of 
Carthage. Publius Cornelius Scipio, who after the departure of 




PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO (Africanus). 



68 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR. 

Hasdrubal from Spain had quickly brought the peninsula under 
the power of Rome, led the army of invasion. He had not been 
long in Africa before the Carthaginian Senate sent for Hannibal 
to conduct the war. At Zama, not far from Carthage, the hostile 
armies came face to face. Fortune had deserted Hannibal; he 
was fighting against fate. He here met his first and final defeat. 
His army, in which were many of the veterans that had served 
through all the Italian campaigns, was almost annihilated (202 B.C.) . 

The Close of the War. — Carthage was now completely ex- 
hausted, and sued for peace. Even Hannibal himself could no 
longer counsel war. The terms of the treaty were much severer 
than those imposed upon the city at the end of the First Punic 
War. She was required to give up all claims to Spain and the 
islands of the Mediterranean; to surrender her war elephants, 
and all her ships of war save ten galleys ; to pay an indemnity of 
five thousand talents ^ at once, and two hundred and fifty talents 
annually for fifty years ; and not, under any circumstances, to 
make war upon an ally of Rome. Five hundred of the costly 
Phoenician war-galleys were towed out of the harbor of Carthage 
and burned in the sight of the citizens (201 B.C.). - 

Such was the end of the Second Punic, or Hannibalic War, as 
called by the Romans, the most desperate struggle ever main- 
tained by rival powers for empire. Scipio was accorded a 
splendid triumph at Rome, and given the surname Africanus in 
honor of his achievements. 

1 About ^6,250,000. 



THE BATTLE OF CYNOSCEPHAL^. 



69 



CHAPTER V. 



THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. 

(149-146 B.C.) 

Events between the Second and the Third Punic War. 

The terms imposed upon Carthage at the end of the Second 
Punic War left Rome mistress of the Western Mediterranean. 
During the fifty eventful years that elapsed between the close of 
that struggle and the breaking out of the last Punic war, her 
authority became supreme also in the Eastern seas. In another 
place/ while narrating the fortunes of the most important states 
into which the great empire of Alexander was broken at his death, 
we followed them until one after another they fell beneath the 
arms of Rome, and were successively absorbed into her growing 
kingdom. We shall therefore speak of them here only in the 
briefest manner, simply indicating the connection of their several 
histories with the series of events which mark the advance of 
Rome to universal empire. 

The Battle of Cynoscephalae (197 b.c). — During the Hanni- 
balic War, Phihp V. (III.) of Macedonia had aided the Cartha- 
ginians, or at least had entered into an alliance 
with them. He was now troubling the Greek 
cities which were under the protection of 
Rome. For these things the Roman Senate 
determined to punish him. An army under 
Flamininus was sent into Greece, and on the 
plains of Cynoscephalae, in Thessaly, the Ro- 
man legion demonstrated its superiority over 
the unwieldy Macedonian phalanx^ by subjecting Philip to a most 




PHILIP v., of Macedonia. 



1 See Eastern Nations and Greece, pp. 273-281. '■^ Ibid., p. 259, note. 



70 



THE THIRD PUNIC WAR, 



disastrous defeat (197 b.c). The king was forced to give up all 
his conquests, and the Greek cities that had been in subjection to 
Macedonia were declared free. Flamininus read the edict of 
emancipation to the Greeks assembled at Corinth for the celebra- 
tion of the Isthmian games. The decree was received with the 
greatest enthusiasm and rejoicing, and Flamininus was called by 
the grateful Greeks the Restorer of Greek liberties. Unfortu- 
nately the Greeks had lost all capacity for freedom and self- 
government, and the anarchy into which their affairs soon fell 
afforded the Romans an excuse for extending their rule over 
Greece. 

The Battle of Magnesia (190 b.c). — Antiochus the Great of 
Syria had at this time not only overrun all Asia Minor, but had 




ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT. 

crossed the Hellespont into Europe, and was intent upon the 
conquest of Thrace and Greece. Rome, that could not entertain 
the idea of a rival empire upon the southern shores of the Medi- 
terranean, could much less tolerate the establishment in the East 
of such a colossal kingdom as the ambition of Antiochus proposed 
to itself. Just as soon as intelligence was carried to Italy that the 
Syrian king was leading his army into Greece, the legions of the 
republic were set in motion. Some reverses caused Antiochus to 
retreat in haste across the Hellespont into Asia, whither he was 
followed by the Romans, led by Scipio, a brother of Africanus. 

At Magnesia, Antiochus was overthrown, and a large part of Asia 
Minor fell into the hands of the Romans. Not yet prepared to 
maintain provinces so distant from the Tiber, the Senate conferred 



THE BATTLE OF PYDNA. 



71 



the new territory, with the exception of Lycia and Caria, which 
were given to the Rhodians, upon 'their friend and ally Eumenes, 
king of Pergamus.^ This " Kingdom of Asia," as it was called, 
was really nothing more than a dependency of Rome, and its 
nominal ruler only a puppet-king in the hands of the Roman 
Senate. 

Scipio enjoyed a magnificent triumph at Rome, and, in accord- 
ance with a custom that had now become popular with successful 
generals, erected a memorial of his deeds in his name by assum- 
ing the title of Asiaticus. 

The Battle of Pydna (i68 b.c). — In a few years Macedonia, 
under the leadership of Perseus, son of 
Philip v., was again in arms and offering 
defiance to Rome ; but in the year i68 b.c. 
the Roman consul ^milius Paulus crushed 
the Macedonian power forever upon the 
memorable field of Pydna. This was one 
of the decisive battles fought by the Ro- 
mans in their struggle for the dominion of 
the world. The last great power in the 
East was here broken. The Roman Senate was henceforth recog- 
nized by the whole civilized world as the source and fountain 
of supreme pohtical wisdom and power. We shall have yet to 
record many campaigns of the Roman legions ; but these were 
efforts to suppress revolt among dependent or semi-vassal states, 
or were struggles with barbarian tribes that skirted the Roman 
dominions. 

The Destruction of Corinth (146 b.c). — Barely twenty years 
had passed after the destruction of the Macedonian monarchy 
before the cities and states that formed the Achaean League ^ were 
goaded to revolt by the injustice of their Roman protectors. In 
the year 146 B.C. the consul Mummius signalized the suppression 
of the rebellion by the complete destruction of the brilliant city of 




PERSEUS, of Macedonia. 



1 See Eastern Nations and Greece, p. 276, note. ^ Ibid,, p. 280, 



72 THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. 

Corinth, the eye of Hellas," as the ancient poets were fond of 
calling it. This fair capital, the most beautiful and renowned of all 
the cities of Greece after the fall of Athens, was sacked and razed 
to the ground. Much of the booty was sold on the spot at pub- 
lic auction. Numerous works of art, — rare paintings and sculp- 
tures, — with which the city was crowded, were carried off to Italy. 
" Never before or after," says Long, " was such a display of the 
wonders of Grecian art carried in triumphal procession through 
the streets of Rome." 

The Fate of Hannibal and of Scipio. — Among the many events 
that crowded the brief period we are reviewing, we must not fail 
to notice the fate of the two great actors in the Hannibalic War. 
Soon after the battle of Zama, and the treaty between Carthage 
and Rome, Hannibal was chosen to the chief magistracy of the 
former city. In this position he introduced much-needed reform 
into every department of the government, and secured to the capi- 
tal a period of prosperity and rapid growth. But his measures 
stirred up not only enmity at home, but jealousy at Rome. The 
Roman Senate, fearing Hannibal as a statesman as much as they 
dreaded him as a general, demanded of the Carthaginians his 
surrender. While they were deliberating whether to give up their 
great commander, Hannibal fled across the sea to Ephesus, in 
Asia Minor. Here he was received by Antiochus with such marks 
of honor as became his deeds and genius. 

Upon the defeat of Antiochus at Magnesia, the Romans de- 
manded that Hannibal should be given up to them. Again the 
exile fled from his implacable foes, and at last found a refuge 
with the prince of Bithynia, in a remote district of Asia Minor. 
Yet even there Roman hatred pursued him. It seemed as though 
there was no spot in all the world where the arm of Rome did 
not reach. His new friend could not shield him ; and, deter- 
mined not to fall into the hands of his foes, Hannibal took his 
own life by means of poison, and died faithful to his vow of eter- 
nal hatred to the Roman race (about 183 B.C.). 

Almost equally bitter was the cup which the ungrateful Romans 



''CARTHAGE MUST BE DESTROYED^ 73 

forced to the lips of the conqueror of Hannibal. After the battle 
of Zama, Scipio Africanus gave himself to politics, but soon raised 
about himself a perfect storm of unmerited abuse and persecution. 
Leaving Rome, he went into a sort of voluntary exile at his coun- 
try-seat near Liternum, in Campania. He died about the same 
time that witnessed the death of Hannibal. Upon his tomb was 
placed this inscription, which he himself had dictated : " Ungrate- 
ful country, thou shalt not possess even my ashes." 

The Third Punic War. 

" Carthage must be destroyed." — The same year that Rome 
destroyed Corinth (146 B.C.), she also blotted her great rival Car- 
thage from the face of the earth. It will be recalled that one of 
the conditions imposed upon the last-named city at the close of 
the Second Punic War was that she should, under no circumstances, 
engage in war with an ally of Rome. Taking advantage of the 
helpless condition of Carthage, Masinissa, king of Numidia and 
an ally of Rome, began to make depredations upon her territories. 
She appealed to Rome for protection. The envoys sent to Africa 
by the Senate to settle the dispute, unfairly adjudged every case in 
favor of the robber Masinissa. In this way Carthage was deprived 
of her lands and towns. 

Chief of one of the embassies sent out was Marcus Cato, the 
Censor. When he saw the prosperity of Carthage, — her immense 
trade, which crowded her harbor with ships, and the country for 
miles back of the city a beautiful landscape of gardens and villas, 
— he was amazed at the growing power and wealth of the city, 
and returned home convinced that the safety of Rome demanded 
the destruction of her rival. Never afterwards did he address the 
Romans, no matter upon what subject, but he always ended with 
the words, " Carthage must be destroyed " {delenda est Carthago). 

Roman Perfidy. — A pretext for the accomplishment of the 
hateful work was not long wanting. In 150 k.c. the Carthagin- 
ians, when Masinissa made another attack upon their territory. 



74 THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. 

instead of calling upon Rome, from which source the past had 
convinced them they could hope for neither aid nor justice, 
gathered an army, and resolved to defend themselves. Their 
forces, however, were defeated by the Numidians, and sent 
beneath the yoke. 

In entering upon this war Carthage had broken the conditions 
of the last treaty. The Carthaginian Senate, in great anxiety, now 
sent an embassy to Italy to offer any reparation the Romans 
might demand. They were told that if they would give three 
hundred hostages, members of the noblest Carthaginian families, 
the independence of their city should be respected. They eagerly 
complied with this demand. But no sooner were these in 
the hands of the Romans than the consular armies, numbering 
80,000 men, secured against attack by the hostages so perfidiously 
drawn from the Carthaginians, crossed from Sicily into Africa, 
and disembarked at Utica, only ten miles from Carthage. 

The Carthaginians were now commanded to give up all their 
arms ; still hoping to win their enemy to clemency, they complied 
with this demand also. Then the consuls made known the final 
decree of the Roman Senate, — " That Carthage must be destroyed, 
but that the inhabitants might build a new city, provided it were 
located ten miles from the coast." 

When this resolution of the Senate was announced to the Car- 
thaginians, and they realized the baseness and perfidy of their 
enemy, a cry of indignation and despair burst from the be- 
trayed city. 

The Carthaginians prepare to defend their City. — It was re- 
solved to resist to the bitter end the execution of the cruel decree. 
The gates of the city were closed. Men, women, and children 
set to work and labored day and night manufacturing arms. The 
entire city was converted into one great workshop. The utensils 
of the home and the sacred vessels of the temples, statues, and 
vases were melted down for weapons. Material was torn from 
the buildings of the city for the construction of military engines. 
The women cut off their hair and braided it into strings for the 



THE DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE. 75 

catapults. By such labor, and through such means, the city was 
soon put in a state to withstand a siege. 

When the Romans advanced to take possession of the place, 
they were astonished to find the people they had just treacher- 
ously disarmed, with weapons in their hands, manning the walls of 
their capital, and ready to bid them defiance. 

The Destruction of Carthage (146 b.c). — It is impossible for 
us here to give the circumstances of the siege of Carthage. For 
four years the city held out against the Roman army. At length 
the consul Scipio ^milianus succeeded in taking it by storm. 
When resistance ceased, only 50,000 men, women, and children, 
out of a population of 700,000, remained to be made prisoners. 
The city was fired, and for seventeen days the space within the 
walls was a sea of flames. Every trace of building which the fire 
could not destroy was levelled, a plough was driven over the site, 
and a dreadful curse invoked upon any one who should dare 
attempt to rebuild the city. 

Such was the hard fate of Carthage. It is said that Scipio, as 
he gazed upon the smouldering ruins, seemed to read in them the 
fate of Rome, and, bursting into tears, sadly repeated the lines of 
Homer : — 

" The day shall come in which our sacred Troy, 
And Priam, and the people over whom 
Spear-bearing Priam rules, shall perish all," 

The Carthaginian territory in Africa was made into a Roman 
province, with tJtica as the leading city ; and Roman civilization 
was spread rapidly, by means of traders and settlers, throughout 
the regions that lie between the ranges of the Atlas and the sea. 

War in Spain. 

Siege of Numantia. — It is fitting that the same chapter which 
narrates the destruction of Corinth in Greece, and the blotting- 
out of Carthage in Africa, should tell the story of the destruction 
of Numantia in Spain. 



76 THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. 

The expulsion of the Carthaginians from the Spanish peninsula 
really gave Rome the control of only a small part of that country. 
The warlike native tribes — the Celtiberians and Lusitanians — 
of the North and the West were ready stubbornly to dispute with 
the new-comers the possession of the soil. The treachery of the 
Roman generals inflamed the natives to a desperate revolt under 
Viriathus, a Lusitanian chief, who has been compared in his char- 
acter and deeds to Wallace of Scotland. Finally Scipio ^milianus, 
the conqueror of Carthage, was given the chief command. He 
began by reforming the army, which had become shamefully disso- 
lute. The crowds of merchants were driven out of the camp ; the 
wagons in which the effeminate soldiers were accustomed to ride 
were sold, and once more the Roman legions marched, instead of 
riding, to battle. 

With the army in proper discipline for service, Scipio rein- 
vested Numantia, which had already withstood nine years of siege. 
The brave defenders numbered barely 8000 men, while the lines 
of circumvallation that hedged them in were kept by 60,000 sol- 
diers. Famine at last gave the place into the hands of Scipio, 
after almost all the inhabitants had met death, either in defence 
of the walls, or by deliberate suicide. The miserable remnant 
which the ravages of battle, famine, pestilence, and despair had 
left alive were sold into slavery, and the city was levelled to the 
ground (133 B.C.). 

The capture of Numantia was considered quite as great an 
achievement as the taking of Carthage. Scipio celebrated another 
triumph at Rome, and to his surname Africanus added that of 
Numantinus. Spain became a favorite resort of Roman mer- 
chants, and many colonies were established in different parts of 
the country. As a result of this great influx of Itahans, the laws, 
manners, customs, language, and religion of the conquerors were 
introduced everywhere, and the peninsula became rapidly Roman- 
ized. 



THE SERVILE WAR IN SICILY. 77 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

(133-31 B.C.) 

We have now traced the growth of the power of repubhcan 
Rome, as through two centuries and more of conquest she has 
extended her authority, first throughout Italy, and then over 
almost all the countries that border upon the Mediterranean. 
It must be our less pleasant task now to follow the declining for- 
tunes of the republic through the last century of its existence. 
We shall here learn that wars waged for spoils and dominion are 
in the end more ruinous, if possible, to the conqueror than to the 
conquered. 

The Servile War in Sicily (134-132 b.c). — With the open- 
ing of this period we find a terrible struggle going on in Sicily 
between masters and slaves — or what is known as " The First 
Servile War." The condition of affairs in that island was the 
legitimate result of the Roman system of slavery. The captives 
taken in war were usually sold into servitude. The great number 
of prisoners furnished by the numerous conquests of the Romans 
caused slaves to become a drug in the slave-markets of the Roman 
world. They were so cheap that masters found it more profitable 
to wear their slaves out by a few years of unmercifully hard labor, 
and then to buy others, than to preserve their lives for a longer 
period by more humane treatment. In case of sickness, they 
were left to die without attention, as the expense of nursing ex- 
ceeded the cost of new purchases. Some Sicilian estates were 
worked by as many as 20,000 slaves. That each owner might 
know his own, the poor creatures were branded like cattle. What 
makes all this the more revolting is the fact that many of these 
slaves were in every way the peers of their owners, and often were 



78 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

their superiors. The fortunes of war alone had made one servant 
and the other master. 

A considerable portion of the estates in Sicily were simply 
grazing farms, their proprietors finding the raising of wool for 
the clothing of the Roman legions more profitable than the cul- 
tivation of grain. The slaves that tended the flocks on these 
farms received from their masters neither pay, food, nor clothing. 
They were expected to supply their needs from the herds they 
tended, and by robbing travellers on the highways and plundering 
the dwellings of the peasants. They were well armed, and were 
always accompanied by fierce dogs. The magistrates dared not 
punish them for their misdeeds, through fear of their masters, who 
were all-powerful at Rome. 

The wretched condition of these slaves and the cruelty of their 
masters at last drove them to revolt. The insurrection spread 
throughout the island, until 200,000 slaves were in arms, and in 
possession of many of the strongholds of the country. They de- 
feated four Roman armies sent against them, and for three years 
defied the power of Rome. Finally, however, in the year 132 B.C., 
the revolt was crushed, and peace was restored to the distracted 
island.-^ 

The Public Lands. — In Italy itself affairs were in a scarcely 
less wretched condition than in Sicily. When the different states 
of the peninsula were subjugated, large portions of the conquered 
territory had become public land imager publicus) ; for upon the 
subjugation of a state Rome never left to the conquered people 
more than two-thirds of their lands, and often not so much as 
this. The land appropriated was disposed of at public sale, leased 
at low rentals, allotted to discharged soldiers, or allowed to lie 
unused.^ 

1 In the year 102 B.C. another insurrection of the slaves broke out in the 
island, which it required three years to quell. This last revolt is known as 
"The Second Servile War." 

2 These land matters may be made plain by a reference to the public lands 
of the United States. The troubles in Ireland between the land-owners and 



THE PUBLIC LANDS. 79 

Now, it had happened that, in various ways, the greater part of 
the public lands had fallen into the hands of the wealthy. They 
alone had the capital necessary to stock and work them to advan- 
tage ; hence the possessions of the small proprietors were gradu- 
ally absorbed by the large landholders. These great proprietors, 
also, disregarding a law which forbade any person to hold more 
than five hundred jugera of land, held many times that amount. 
Almost all the lands of Italy, about the beginning of the first cen- 
tury B.C., are said to have been held by not more than 2000 
persons ; for the large proprietors, besides the lands they had 
secured by purchase from the government, or had wrested from 
the smaller farmers, claimed enormous tracts to which they had 
only a squatter's title. So long had they been left in undisturbed 
possession of these government lands that they had come to look 
upon them as absolutely their own. In many cases, feeling secure 
through great lapse of time, — the lands having been handed down 
through many generations, — the owners had expended large sums 
in their improvement, and now resisted as very unjust every effort 
to dispossess them of their hereditary estates. Money-lenders, 
too, had, in many instances, made loans upon these lands, and 
they naturally sided with the owners in their opposition to all 
efforts to disturb the titles. 

These wealthy ^' possessors " employed slave rather than free 
labor, as they found it more profitable ; and so the poorer 
Romans, left without employment, crowded into the cities, espe- 
cially congregating at Rome, where they lived in vicious indo- 
lence. The proprietors also found it for their interest to raise stock 
rather than to cultivate the soil. All Italy became a great sheep- 
pasture. 

Thus, largely through the workings of the pubHc land system, 
the Roman people had become divided into two great classes, 
which are variously designated as the Rich and the Poor, the Pos- 



their tenants will also serve to illustrate the agrarian disturbances in ancient 
Rome. 



80 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

sessors and the Non-Possessors, the Optimates (the " Best ") and 
the Populares (the "People"). We hear nothing more of patri- 
cians and plebeians. As one expresses it, " Rome had become a 
commonwealth of millionnaires and beggars." 

For many years before and after the period at which we have 
now arrived, a bitter struggle was carried on between these two 
classes ; just such a contest as we have seen waged between the 
nobihty and the commonalty in the earlier history of Rome. The 
most instructive portion of the story of the Roman republic is 
found in the records of this later struggle. The misery of the 
great masses naturally led to constant agitation at the capital. 
Popular leaders introduced bill after bill into the Senate, and 
brought measure after measure before the assemblies of the 
people, all aiming at the redistribution of the public lands and 
the correction of existing abuses. 

- The Reforms of the Gracchi. — The most noted champions of 
the cause of the poorer classes against the rich and powerful were 
Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. These reformers are reckoned 
among the most popular orators that Rome ever produced. They 
eloquently voiced the wrongs of the people. Said Tiberius, " You 
are called '■ lords of the earth ' without possessing a single clod to 
call your own." The people made him tribune ; and in that 
position he secured the passage of a law for the redistribution of 
the public lands, which gave some relief. It took away from 
Possessors without sons all the land they held over five hundred 
jugera ; Possessors with one son might hold seven hundred and 
fifty jugera, and those with two sons one thousand. 

At the end of his term of office, Tiberius stood a second time 
for the tribunate. The nobles combined to defeat him. Fore- 
seeing that he would not be re-elected, Tiberius resolved to use 
force upon the day of voting. His partisans were overpowered, 
and he and three hundred of his followers were killed in the 
Forum, and their bodies thrown into the Tiber (133 B.C.). This 
was the first time that the Roman Forum had witnessed such a 
scene of violence and crime. 



THE REFORMS OF THE GRACCHI. 81 

Gaius Gracchus, the younger brother of Tiberius, now assumed 
the position made vacant by the death of Tiberius. It is related 
that Gaius had a dream in which the spirit of his brother seemed 
to address him thus: "Gaius, why do you hnger? There is no 
escape : one hfe for both of us, and one death in defence of the 
people, is our fate." The dream came true. Gaius was chosen 
tribune in 123 B.C. He secured the passage of grain-laws which 
provided that grain should be sold to the poor from public grana- 
ries at half its value or less. This was a very unwise and perni- 
cious measure. It was not long before grain was distributed free 
to all apphcants ; and a considerable portion of the population of 
the capital were living in vicious indolence and feeding at the 
pubHc crib. 

Gaius proposed other measures in the interest of the people, 
which were bitterly opposed by the Optimates ; and the two orders 
at last came into collision. Gaius sought death by a friendly 
sword (121 B.C.), and 3000 of his adherents were massacred. 
The consul offered for the head of Gaius its weight in gold. 
" This is the first instance in Roman history of head-money being 
offered and paid, but it was not the last " (Long). 

The people ever regarded the Gracchi as martyrs to their cause, 
and their memory w^is preserved by statues in the public square. 
To Cornelia, their mother, a monument was erected, bearing the 
simple inscription, " The Mother of the Gracchi." 

The War with Jugurtha (111-106 b.c). — After the death 
of the Gracchi there seemed no one left to resist the heartless 
oppressions and to denounce the scandalous extravagances of the 
aristocratic party. Many of the laws of the Gracchi respecting 
the public lands were annulled. Italy fell again into the hands of 
a few over-rich land-owners. The provinces were plundered by 
the Roman governors, who squandered their ill-gotten wealth at 
the capital. The votes of senators and the decisions of judges, 
the offices at Rome and the places in the provinces — everything 
pertaining to the government had its price, and was bought and 
sold like merchandise. Affairs in Africa at this time illustrate how 



82 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

Roman virtue and integrity had declined since Fabricius indig- 
nantly refused the gold of Pyrrhus. 

Jugurtha, king of Numidia, had seized all that country, having 
put to death the rightful rulers of different provinces of the same, 
who had been confirmed in their possessions by the Romans 
at the close of the Punic wars. Commissioners sent from Rome 
to look into the matter were bribed by Jugurtha. Finally, the 
Numidian robber, in carrying out some of his high-handed meas- 
ures, put to death some Italian merchants. War was immediately 
declared by the Roman Senate, and the consul Bestia was sent 
into Africa with an army, to punish the insolent usurper. Bestia 
sold himself to Jugurtha, and, instead of chastising him, confirmed 
him in his stolen possessions. We should naturally suppose that 
the Senate would have administered some wholesome correction 
to the mercenary consul upon his return. But the wily general, 
anticipating this, had taken with him the president of that body, 
and had divided with him the spoils. 

The indignation of the people, who had good reason to suspect 
the real state of affairs, was great. They demanded that Jugurtha, 
with the promise of immunity to himself, should be invited to 
Rome, and encouraged to disclose the whole transaction, in order 
that those who had betrayed the state for money might be pun- 
ished. Jugurtha came ; but the gold of the consul and president 
bribed one of the tribunes to prohibit the king from giving his 
testimony. 

Now it so happened that there was in Rome at this time a rival 
claimant of the Numidian throne, who at this very moment was 
urging his claims before the Senate. Jugurtha caused this rival to 
be assassinated. As he himself was under a safe-conduct, the 
Senate could do nothing to punish the audacious deed and to 
resent the insult to the state, save by ordering the king to depart 
from the city at once. As he passed the gates, it is said that he 
looked scornfully back upon the capital, and exclaimed, " O venal 
city ! thou wouldst sell thyself if thou couldst find a purchaser ! " 

Upon the renewal of the war another Roman army was sent into 



INVASION OF THE CIMBRI AND TEU TONES. 83 

Africa, but was defeated and forced beneath the yoke. In the 
year io6 B.C. the war was brought to a close by Gaius Marius, a 
man who had risen to the consulship from the lowest ranks of the 
people. Under him fought a young nobleman named Sulla, of 
whom we shall hear much hereafter. Marius celebrated a grand 
triumph at Rome. Jugurtha, after having graced the triumphal 
procession, in which he walked with his hands bound with chains, 
was thrown into the Mamertine dungeon beneath the Capitoline 
hill, where he died of starvation. 

Invasion of the Cimbri and Teutones. — The war was not 
yet ended in Africa before terrible tidings came to Rome from 
the north. Two mighty nations of " horrible barbarians," 300,000 
strong in fighting-men, coming whence no one could tell, had 
invaded and were now desolating the Roman provinces of 
Gaul, and might any moment cross the Alps and pour down into 
Italy. 

The mysterious invaders proved to be two Germanic tribes, 
the Teutones and Cimbri, the vanguard of that great German 
migration which was destined to change the face and history of 
Europe. These intruders were seeking new homes, and were 
driven on, it would almost seem, by a blind and instinctive im- 
pulse. They carried with them, in rude wagons, all their property, 
their wives, and their children. The Celtic tribes of Gaul were 
no match for the new-comers, and fled before them as they ad- 
vanced. Several Roman armies beyond the Alps were cut to 
pieces. In one battle more than 100,000 Romans are said to have 
been slaughtered. The terror at Rome was only equalled by that 
occasioned by the invasion of the Gauls two centuries before. 
The Gauls were terrible enough ; but now the conquerors of the 
Gauls were coming. 

Marius, the conqueror of Jugurtha, was looked to by all as 
the only man who could save the state in this crisis. He was 
re-elected to the consulship, and intrusted with the command 
of the armies. Accompanied by Sulla as one of his most skil- 
ful lieutenants, Marius hastened into Northern Italy. The bar- 



84 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

barians had divided into two bands. The Cimbri were to cross 
the Eastern Alps, and join in the valley of the Po the Teutones, 
who were to force the defiles of the Western, or Maritime Alps. 
Marius determined to prevent the union of the barbarians, and to 
crush each band separately. 

Anticipating the march of the Teutones, he hurried over the 
Alps into Gaul, and sat down in a fortified camp to watch their 
movements. Unable to storm the Roman position, the bar- 
barians resolved to leave their enemy in the rear and push on 
into Italy. For six days and nights the endless train of men 
and wagons rolled past the camp of Marius. The barbarians 
jeered at the Roman soldiers, and asked them if they had any 
messages they wished to send to their wives ; if so, they would 
bear them, as they would be in Rome shortly. Marius allowed 
them to pass by, and then, breaking camp, followed closely after. 
Falling upon them at a favorable moment, he almost annihi- 
lated the entire host.^ Two hundred thousand barbarians are 
said to have been slain. Marius heaped together and burned 
the spoils of the battle-field. While engaged in this work, 
the news was brought to him of his re-election as consul for 
the fifth time. This was illegal ; but the people felt that Marius 
must be kept in the field. 

Marius now recrossed the Alps, and, after visiting Rome, 
hastened to meet the Cimbri, who were entering the north- 
eastern corner of Italy. He was not a day too soon. Already 
the barbarians had defeated the Roman army under the pa- 
trician Catulus, and were ravaging the rich plains of the Po. 
The Cimbri, unconscious of the fate of the Teutones, now sent 
an embassy to Marius, to demand that they and their kinsmen 
should be given lands in Italy. Marius sent back in reply, 
"The Teutones have got all the land they need on the other 
side of the Alps." The devoted Cimbri were soon to have all 
they needed on this side. 

1 In the battle of Aquae Sextiae, fought 102 B.C. 



THE SOCIAL, OR MA RSI C WAR. 85 

A terrible battle almost immediately followed at Vercellae 
(loi B.C.). The barbarians were drawn up in an enormous 
hollow square, the men forming the outer ranks being fastened 
together with ropes, to prevent the lines being broken. This 
proved their ruin. More than 100,000 were killed, and 60,000 
taken prisoners to be sold as slaves in the Roman markets. 
Marius was hailed as the " Savior of his Country." 

The fate of these two nations that were wandering over the 
face of the earth in search of homes is one of the most pathetic 
tales in all history. The almost innumerable host of wanderers, 
men, women, and children, now " rested beneath the sod, or 
toiled under the yoke of slavery : the forlorn hope of the German 
migration had performed its duty ; the homeless people of the 
Cimbri and their comrades were no more " (Mommsen). Their 
kinsmen yet behind the Danube and the Rhine were destined to 
exact a terrible revenge for their slaughter. 

The Social, or Marsic War (91-89 b.c). — Scarcely was the 
danger of the barbarian invasion past, before Rome was threatened 
by another and greater evil arising within her own borders. At 
this time all the free inhabitants of Italy were embraced in three 
classes, — Roman citizens , Latins, and Italian allies. The Roman 
citizens included the inhabitants of the capital and of the various 
Roman colonies planted in different parts of the peninsula,^ besides 
the people of a number of towns called miinicipia ; the Latins 
were the inhabitants of the Latin colonies ; ^ the Italian allies 
(socii) included the various subjugated races of Italy .^' 

The Social, or Marsic War (as it is often called on account of 
the prominent part taken in the insurrection by the warlike Mar- 
sians) was a struggle that arose from the demands of the Itahan 
allies for the privileges of Roman citizenship, from which they 
were wholly excluded. As the authority of Rome had been grad- 
ually extended over the various cities and states of Italy, only 

1 See p. 41, note. 

2 They enjoyed local self-government, but were bound by treaty to furnish 
contingents to the Roman army in times of war. 




86 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

a few favored individuals and communities had been admitted to 

a share in the rights and immunities of the 
citizens of the capital. Indeed, the world 
had not yet come to regard the conquered 
as having any rights whatever. But these 
Italians were the same in race, language, 
and rehsfion as their conquerors ; and it was 

COIN OF THE ITALIAN , . f ^_ i , , ,, i i-r^ 

CONFEDERACY. their valor and blood that nad helped Rome 

(The Italian Bull gonngthe to sccure the domiuion of the Mediterra- 
Roman Wolf.) ^^^^ ^^^j^^ Yet iuvidlous and hateful dis- 

tinctions separated them from the citizens of the capital. A 
Roman ^soldier could not be scourged ; but an alien might be 
whipped to death, and often was, without comment being excited 
or redress being possible. Naturally the Italians complained 
bitterly of having to fight for the maintenance of an empire in 
the management of which they had no voice, and under the laws 
of which they found no protection. 

The socii now demanded the Roman franchise and the immu- 
nities and privileges of citizens. The demand was stubbornly 
resisted by both the aristocratical and the popular party at Rome. 
Some, however, recognized the justice of these claims of the 
Italians. Drusus championed their cause, but was murdered by 
an infuriated mob. The Italians now flew to arms. They deter- 
mined upon the establishment of a rival state. A town called 
Corfinium, among the Apennines, was chosen as the capital of 
the new republic, and its name changed to Italica. The govern- 
ment of the new state was modelled after that at Rome. Two 
consuls were placed at the head of the republic, and a senate 
of five hundred members was formed. Thus, in a single day, 
almost all Italy south of the Rubicon was lost to Rome. The 
Etrurians, the Umbrians, the Campanians, the Latins, and some 
of the Greek cities were the only states that remained faithful. 

The greatness of the danger aroused all the old Roman courage 
and patriotism. Aristocrats and democrats hushed their quarrels ; 
Sulla and Marius forgot rising animosities, and fought bravely side 



THE CIVIL WAR OF MARIUS AND SULLA. 87 

by side for the endangered life of tlie republic. An army of 
100,000 men was raised to face a force equal in number and disci- 
pline that had been gathered by the new confederacy. The war 
lasted three years. Finally Rome prudently extended the right of 
the franchise to the Latins, Etruscans, and Umbrians, who had so 
far remained true to her, but now began to show signs of wavering 
in their loyalty. Shortly afterwards she offered the same to all 
Italians who should lay down their arms within sixty days. This 
tardy concession to the just demands of the Italians virtually ended 
the war. It had been extremely disastrous to the republic. Hun- 
dreds of thousands of lives had been lost, many towns had been 
depopulated, and vast tracts of the country made desolate by those 
ravages that never fail to characterize civil contentions. 

In after years, under the empire, the rights of Roman citizen- 
ship, which the Italians had now so hardly won, were extended to 
all the free inhabitants of the various provinces beyond the con- 
fines of Italy (see p. 147). 

The Civil War of Marius and Sulla. — The Social War was not 
yet ended when a formidable enemy appeared in the East. Mith- 
radates the Great, king of Pontus, taking advantage of the distracted 
condition of the republic, had encroached upon the Roman prov- 
inces in Asia Minor, and had caused a general massacre of the 
Italian traders and residents in that country. The number of 
victims of this wholesale slaughter has been variously estimated 
at from 80,000 to 150,000. The Roman Senate instantly declared 
war. But the Marsic struggle had drained the treasury. The 
money needed for equipping an army could be raised only by the 
sale of the vacant public ground about the Capitol building. 

A contest straightway arose between Marius and Sulla for the 
command of the forces. The former was now an old man of 
seventy years, while the latter was but forty-nine. Marius could 
not endure the thought of being pushed aside by his former 
lieutenant. The veteran general joined with the young men in 
the games and exercises of the gymnasium, to show that his frame 
was still animated by the strength and agility of youth. The 



LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 



Senate, however, conferred the command upon Sulla. Marius 
was furious at the success of his rival, and by fraud and intimida- 
tion succeeded in getting the command taken away from Sulla 
and given to himself. Two tribunes were sent to demand of Sulla, 
who was still in Italy, the transfer of the command of the legions 
to Marius ; but the messengers were killed by the soldiers, who 
were devotedly attached to their commander. Sulla now saw 
that the sword must settle the dispute. He marched at the head 
of his legions upon Rome, entered the gates, and " for the first 
time in the annals of the city a Roman army encamped within the 
walls." The party of Marius was defeated, and he and ten of his 
companions were proscribed. Marius escaped and fled to Africa ; 
Sulla embarked with the legions to meet Mithradates in the East 
(88 B.C.). 

The Wanderings of Marius. — Leaving Sulla to carry on the 
Mithradatic AVar, we must first follow the fortunes of the exiled 

Marius. The ship in which he fled from 
Italy was driven ashore at Circeii. Here 
Marius and the companions of his flight 
wandered about, sustained by the hope 
inspired by the good omen of the seven 
eaglets. As the story runs, Marius, when 
a boy, had captured an eagle's nest with 
seven young, and the augurs had said that 
this signified that he should be seven times 
consul. He had already held the office 
six times, and he firmly believed that the 
prophecy would be fulfilled as to the 
seventh. 

The pursuers of Marius at last found him hiding in a marsh, 
buried to his neck in mud and water. He was dragged before 
the authorities of the town of Minturnse. The magistrates, in 
obedience to the commands that had been sent everywhere, 
determined to put him to death. A Cimbrian slave was sent to 
despatch him. The cell where Marius lay was dark, and the eyes 




ARIUS. 



RETURN OF ATARI US TO ITALY. 89 

of the old soldier "seemed to flash fire." As the slave advanced, 
Marius shouted, "Man, do you dare kill Gaius Marius?" The 
frightened slave dropped his sword, and fled from the chamber, 
half dead with fear. 

A better feeling now took possession of the men of Minturnae, 
and they resolved that the blood of the " Savior of Italy " should 
not be upon their hands. They put him aboard a vessel, which 
bore him and his friends to an island just off the coast of Africa. 
When he attempted to set foot upon the mainland near Carthage, 
Sextus, the Roman governor of the province, sent a messenger to 
forbid him to land. The legend says that the old general, almost 
choking with indignation, only answered, " Go, tell your master 
that you have seen Marius a fugitive sitting amidst the ruins of 
Carthage." 

The Return of Marius to Italy. — The exile at length found a 
temporary refuge on the island of Cercina, off the coast of Tunis. 
Here news was brought to him that his party, under the lead of 
Cinna, was in successful revolt against the Optimates, and that he 
was needed. He immediately set sail for Italy, and, landing in 
Etruria, joined Cinna. Together they hoped to crush and exter- 
minate the opposing faction. Rome was cut off from her food- 
supplies and starved into submission. 

Marius now took a terrible revenge upon his enemies. Tiie 
consul Octavius was assassinated, and his head set up^ in front of 
the Rostrum. Never before had such a thing been seen at Rome 
— a consul's head exposed to the public gaze. The senators, 
equestrians, and leaders of the Optimate party fled from the capi- 
tal. For five days and nights a merciless slaughter was kept up. 
The life of every man in the capital was in the hands of the 
revengeful Marius. If he refused to return the greeting of any 
citizen, that sealed his fate : he was instantly despatched by the 
soldiers who awaited the dictator's nod. The bodies of the vic- 
tims lay unburied in the streets. Sulla's house was torn down, 
and he himself declared a public enemy. During the tumult the 
slaves had armed themselves, and, imitating the example set 



90 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

before them, were rioting in murder and pillage. Marius, finding 
it impossible to restrain their maddened fury, turned his soldiers 
loose upon them, and they were massacred to a man. 

As a fitting sequel to all this violence, Marius and Cinna were, 
in an entirely illegal way, declared consuls. The prophecy of the 
eadets was fulfilled : Marius was consul for the seventh time. But 
rumors were now spread that Sulla, having overthrown Mithra- 
dates, was about to set out on his return with his victorious legions. 
He would surely exact speedy and terrible vengeance. Marius, 
now old and enfeebled by the hardships of many campaigns, 
seemed to shrink from facing again his hated rival. He plunged 
into dissipation to drown his remorse and gloomy forebodings, 
and died in his seventy-first year {Zd B.C.), after having held his 
seventh consulship only thirteen days. 

Sulla and the First Mithradatic War (88-84 b.c). — When 
Sulla left Italy with his legions for the East he knew very well that 
his enemies would have their own way in Italy during his absence ; 
but he also knew that, if successful in his campaign against Mith- 
radates, he could easily regain Italy, and wrest the government 
from the hands of the Marian party. 

We can here take space to give simply the results of Sulla's 
campaigns in the East. After driving the army of Mithradates 
out of Greece, Sulla crossed the Hellespont, and forced the king 
to sue for peace. He gave up his conquered territory, surren- 
dered his war-ships, and- paid a large indemnity to cover the 
expenses of the war (84 B.C.). 

With the Mithradatic War ended, Sulla wrote to the Senate, 
saying that he was now coming to take vengeance upon the 
Marian party, — his own and the republic's foes. 

The terror and consternation produced at Rome by this letter 
were increased by the accidental burning of the Capitol. The 
SibylHne books, which held the secrets of the fate of Rome, were 
consumed. This accident awakened the most gloomy appre- 
hensions. Such an event, it was believed, could only foreshadow 
the most direful calamities to the state. 



THE PROSCRIPTIONS OF SULLA. - , 91 

The Proscriptions of Sulla. — The returning army from the 
East landed in Italy. With his veteran legions at his back, Sulla 
marched into Rome with all the powers of a dictator. The leaders 
of the Marian party were proscribed, rewards were offered for their 
heads, and their property was confiscated. Sulla was implored to 
make out a list of those he designed to put to death, that those 
he intended to spare might be relieved of the terrible suspense in 
which all were now held. He made out a list of eighty, which 
was attached to the Rostrum. The people murmured at the 
length of the roll. In a few days it was extended to over three 
hundred, and grew rapidly, until it included the names of thou- 
sands of the best citizens of Italy. Hundreds were murdered, not 
for any offence, but because some favorites of Sulla coveted their 
estates. A wealthy noble coming into the Forum and reading his 
own name in the list of the proscribed, exclaimed, ''Alas! my 
villa has proved my ruin." The infamous Catiline, by having the 
name of a brother placed upon the fatal roll, secured his property. 
Julius Caesar, at this time a mere boy of eighteen, was proscribed 
on account of his relationship to Marius ; but, upon the interces- 
sion of friends, Sulla spared him ; as he did so, however, he said 
warningly, and, as the event proved, prophetically, " There is in 
that boy many a Marius." 

Senators, knights, and wealthy land-owners fell by hundreds 
and by thousands ; but the poor Italians who had sided with the 
Marian party were simply slaughtered by tens 'of thousands. Nor 
did the provinces escape. In Sicily, Spain, and Africa the enemies 
of the dictator were hunted and exterminated like noxious animals. 
It is estimated that the civil war of Marius and Sulla cost the 
republic over 150,000 lives. 

When Sulla had sated his revenge, he celebrated a splendid 
triumph at Rome ; the Senate enacted a law declaring all that 
he had done legal and right, caused to be erected in the Forum a 
gilded equestrian statue of the dictator, which bore the legend, 
" To Lucius Cornelius Sulla, the Commander Beloved by Fortune," 
and made him dictator for life. Sulla used his position and influ- 



92 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

ence in recasting the constitution in the interest of the aristocratic 
party. After enjoying the unhmited power of an Asiatic despot 
for three years, he suddenly resigned the dictatorship, and retired 
to his villa at Puteoli, where he gave himself up to the grossest 
dissipations. He died the year following his abdication (78 B.C.). 
The soldiers who had fought under the old general crowded 
to his funeral from all parts of Italy. The body was burned upon 
a huge funeral pyre raised in the Campus Martins. The monu- 
ment erected to his memory bore this inscription, which he him- 
self had composed : '' None of my friends ever did me a kindness, 
and none of my enemies ever did me a wrong, without being 
fully requited." 



POMPEY THE GREAT IN SPAIN. 93 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC {conchided). 

(133-31 B.C.) 

Pompey the Great in Spain. — The fires of the Civil War, 
though quenched in Italy, were still smouldering in Spain. Serto- 
rius, an adherent of Marius, had there stirred up the martial tribes 
of Lusitania, and incited a general revolt against the power of 
the aristocratic government at Rome. Gnaeus Pompey, a rising 
young leader of the oligarchy, upon whom the title of " Great " had 
already been conferred as a reward for crushing the Marian party 
in Sicily and Africa, was sent into Spain to perform a similar ser- 
vice there. 

For several years the war was carried on with varying fortunes. 
At times the power of S-ome in the peninsula seemed on the verge 
of utter extinction. Finally the brave Sertorius was assassinated 
(72 B.C.), and then the whole of Spain was quickly regained. 
Pompey boasted of having forced the gates of more than eight 
hundred cities in Spain and Southern Gaul. Throughout all the 
conquered regions he established military colonies, and reorganized 
the local governments, putting in power those who would be not 
only friends and allies of the Roman state, but also his own per- 
sonal adherents. How he used these men as instruments of his 
ambition, we shall learn a little later. 

Spartacus: War of the Gladiators (73-71 b.c), — While Pom- 
pey was subduing the Marian faction in Spain, a new danger broke 
out in the midst of Italy. Ciladiatorial combats had become at this 
time the favorite sport of the amphitheatre. At Capua was a sort 
of training-school, from which skilled fighters were hired out for 
public or private entertainments. In this seminary was a Thracian 
slave, known by the name of Spartacus, who incited his compan- 



94 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

ions to revolt. The insurgents fled to the crater of Vesuvius, and 
made that their stronghold. There they were joined by gladiators 
from other schools, and by slaves and discontented men from 
every quarter. Some slight successes enabled them to arm them- 
selves with the weapons of their enemies. Their number at length 
increased to 150,000 men. For three years they defied the 
power of Rome, and even gained control of the larger part of 
Southern Italy. Four Roman armies sent against them were cut 
to pieces. 

But Spartacus, who was a man of real abihty and discernment, 
foresaw that a protracted contest with Rome must inevitably issue 
in the triumph of the government. He therefore counselled his 
followers to fight their way over the Alps, and then to disperse to 
their various homes in Gaul, Spain, and Thrace. But elated with 
the successes already achieved, they imagined that they could 
capture Rome, and have all Italy for a spoil. Their camp was 
already filled with plunder, which the insurgents sold to specula- 
tors. They took in exchange for these spoils only brass and iron, 
which their forges quickly converted into weapons. 

At length M. Crassus succeeded in crowding the insurgents 
down into Rhegium, where Hannibal had stood so long at bay. 
Spartacus now resolved to pass over into Sicily, and stir up the 
embers of the old Servile War upon that island. He bargained 
with the pirates that infested the neighboring seas to convey his 
forces across the straits ; but as soon as they had received the 
stipulated price they treacherously sailed away, and left Spartacus 
and his followers to their fate. Crassus threw up a wall across 
the isthmus, to prevent the escape of the insurgents ; but Spar- 
tacus broke through the Roman line by night, and hastened 
northward with his army. Following in hot pursuit, Crassus over- 
took the fugitives at the Silarus, and there subjected them to a 
decisive defeat. Spartacus himself was slain; but 5000 of the 
insurgents escaped, and fled towards the Alps. This flying band 
was met and annihilated by Pompey, who was returning from 
Spain. 



THE ABUSES OF VERRES. 95 

The slaves that had taken part in the revolt were hunted through 
the mountains and forests, and exterminated like dangerous beasts. 
The Appian Way was lined with six thousand crosses, bearing aloft 
as many bodies, — a terrible warning of the fate awaiting slaves 
that should dare to strike for freedom. 

The Abuses of Verres. — Terrible as was the state of society in 
Italy, still worse was the condition of affairs outside the peninsula. 
At first the rule of the Roman governors in the provinces, though 
severe, was honest and prudent. But during the period of profli- 
gacy and corruption upon which we have now entered, the admin- 
istration of these foreign possessions was shamefully dishonest and 
incredibly cruel and rapacious. The prosecution of Verres, the 
propraetor of Sicily, exposed the scandalous rule of the oligarchy, 
into whose hands the government had fallen. For three years 
Verres plundered and ravaged that island with impunity. He sold 
all the offices and all his decisions as judge. He demanded of 
the farmers the greater part of their crops, which he sold, to swell 
his already enormous fortune. Agriculture was thus ruined, and 
the farms were abandoned. Verres had a taste for art, and when 
on his tours through the island confiscated gems, vases, statues, 
paintings, and other things that struck his fancy, whether in tem- 
ples or private dwellings. 

Verres could not be called to account while in ofiice ; and it 
was doubtful whether, after the end of his term, he could be con- 
victed, so corrupt and venal had become the members of the 
Senate, before whom all such offenders must be tried. Indeed, 
Verres himself openly boasted that he intended two thirds of his 
gains for his judges and lawyers, while the remaining one third 
would satisfy himself. 

At length, after Sicily had come to look as though it had been 
ravaged by barbarian conquerors, the infamous robber was im- 
peached. The prosecutor was Marcus Tullius Cicero, the brilliant 
orator, who was at this time just rising into prominence at Rome. 
The storm of indignation raised by the developments of the trial 



96 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

caused Verres to flee into exile to Massilia, whither he took with 
him much of his ill-gotten wealth. 

War with the Mediterranean Pirates {dd b.c). — The Roman 
republic was now threatened by a new danger from the sea. The 
Mediterranean was swarming with pirates. Roman conquests in 
Africa, Spain, and especially in Greece and Asia Minor, had caused 
thousands of adventurous spirits from those maritime countries to 
flee to their ships, and seek a livelihood by preying upon the com- 
merce of the seas. The cruelty and extortions of the Roman 
governors had also driven large numbers to the same course of 
life. These corsairs had banded themselves into a sort of govern- 
ment, and held possession of numerous strongholds — four hun- 
dred, it is said — in Cilicia, Crete, and other countries. With a 
thousand swift ships they scoured the waters of the Mediterra- 
nean, so that no merchantman could spread her sails in safety. 
They formed a floating empire, which Michelet calls a '' a wander- 
ing Carthage, which no one knew where to seize, and which 
floated from Spain to Asia." 

These buccaneers, the Vikings of the South, made descents 
upon the coast everywhere, plundered villas and temples, at- 
tacked and captured cities, and sold the inhabitants as slaves in 
the various slave markets of the Roman world. They carried off 
merchants and magistrates from the Appian Way itself, and held 
them for ransom. At last the grain ships of Sicily and Africa 
were intercepted, and . Rome was threatened with the alternative 
of starvation or the paying of an enormous ransom. 

The Romans now bestirred themselves. Pompey was invested 
with dictatorial power for three years over the Mediterranean and 
all its coasts for fifty miles inland. An armament of 500 ships and 
100,000 men was intrusted to his command. The great general 
acted with his characteristic energy. Within forty days he had 
swept the pirates from the Western Mediterranean, and in forty- 
nine more hunted them from all the waters east of Italy, captured 
their strongholds in Cihcia, and settled the 20,000 prisoners that 
fell into his hands in various colonies in Asia Minor and Greece. 



THE THIRD MITHRADATIC WAR. 



97 



Pompey's vigorous and successful conduct of this campaign against 
the pirates gained him great honor and reputation. 

Pompey and the Third ^ Mithradatic War (74-64 b.c). — In 
the very year that Pompey suppressed the pirates, he was called 
upon to undertake a more difficult task. Mithradates the Great, 
led on by his ambition, and encouraged by the discontent created 
throughout the Eastern provinces by Roman rapacity and misrule, 
was again in arms against Rome. He had stirred almost all Asia 
Minor to revolt. The management of the war was at first in- 
trusted to the consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus, but he soon lost 
the confidence both of the people at home and of the soldiers in 
the army ; so the command was taken from him and conferred 
upon Pompey, whose success in the war of the pirates had aroused 
unbounded enthusiasm for him. 

In a great battle in Lesser Armenia, Pompey almost annihilated 
the army of Mithradates. The king fled from the field and, after 
seeking in vain for a refuge in Asia Minor, sought an asylum 
beyond the Caucasus Mountains, whose bleak barriers interposed 
their friendly shield between him and 
his pursuers. Desisting from the pursuit, 
Pompey turned south and conquered Sy- 
ria, Phoenicia, and Ccele-Syria, which coun- 
tries he erected into a Roman province. 

Still pushing southward, the conqueror 
entered Palestine, and after a short siege 
captured Jerusalem (63 e.g.). It was at 
this time that Pompey insisted, in spite of 
the protestations of the high priest, upon 
entering the Holy of Holies of the Hebrew temple. Pushing aside 
the curtain to the jealously guarded apartment, he was astonished 
to find nothing but a dark and vacant chamber, without even a statue 
of the god to whom the shrine was dedicated — nothing but a little 
chest (the Ark of the Covenant) containing some sacred relics. 




MITHRADATES VI. 
(The Great.) 



1 The so-called Second Mithradatic War (83-82 B.C.) was a short conflict be- 
tween the Romans and Mithradates that arose just after the close of the First. 



98 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

While Pompey was thus engaged, Mithradates was straining 
every energy to raise an army among the Scythian tribes with 
which to carry out a most daring project. He proposed to cross 
Europe and fall upon Italy from the north. A revolt on the part 
of his son Pharnaces ruined all his plans and hopes; and the 
disappointed monarch, to avoid falHng into the hands of the 
Romans, took his own life {(i^ B.C.). His death removed one of 
the most formidable enemies that Rome had ever encountered. 
Hamilcar, Hannibal, and Mithradates were the three great names 
that the Romans always pronounced with respect and dread. 

Pompey's Triumph. — After regulating the affairs of the different 
states and provinces in the East, Pompey set out on his return to 
Rome, where he enjoyed such a triumph as never before had been 
seen since Rome had become a city. The spoils of all the East 
were borne in the procession; 322 princes walked as captives 
before the triumphal chariot of the conqueror ; legends upon the 
banners proclaimed that he had conquered 21 kings, captured 
1000 strongholds, 900 towns, and 800 ships, and subjugated more 
than 1 2,000,000 people ; and that he had put into the treasury 
more than ^25,000,000, besides doubling the regular revenues of 
the state. He boasted that three times he had triumphed, and 
each time for the conquest of a continent — first for Africa, then 
for Europe, and now for Asia, which completed the conquest of 
the world. 

The Conspiracy of Catiline (64-62 b.c). — While the legions 
were absent from Italy with Pompey in the East, a most daring 
conspiracy against the government was formed at Rome. Catiline, 
a ruined spendthrift, had gathered a large company of profligate 
young nobles, weighed down with debts and desperate like himself, 
and had deliberately planned to murder the consuls and the chief 
men of the state, and to plunder and burn the capital. The offices 
of the new government were to be divided among the conspira- 
tors. They depended upon receiving aid from Africa and Spain, 
and proposed to invite to their standard the gladiators in the 
various schools of Italy, as well as slaves and criminals. The 



CMSAK, CRASSUS, AND POMPEY. 99 

proscriptions of Sulla were to be renewed, and all debts were to 
be cancelled. 

Fortunately, all the plans of the conspirators were revealed to 
the consul Cicero, the great orator. The Senate immediately 
clothed the consuls with dictatorial power with the usual formula, 
that they " should take care that the republic received no harm." 
The gladiators were secured ; the city walls were manned ; and at 
every point the capital and state were armed against the '' invisible 
foe." Then in the Senate-chamber, with Catiline himself present, 
Cicero exposed the whole conspiracy in a famous philippic, known 
as '' The First Oration against Catiline." The senators shrank 
from the conspirator, and left the seats about him empty. After 
a feeble effort to reply to Cicero, overwhelmed by a sense of his 
guilt, and the cries of " traitor " and " parricide " from the senators, 
Catiline fled from the chamber, and hurried out of the city to the 
camp of his followers in Etruria. In a desperate battle fought 
near Pistoria (62 B.C.), he was slain with many of his followers. 
His head was borne as a trophy to Rome. Cicero was hailed as 
the "Savior of his Country." 

Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey. — Although the conspiracy of 
Catiline had failed, it was very easy to foresee that the downfall 
of the Roman republic was near at hand. Indeed, from this time 
on, only the name remains. The basis of the institutions of the 
republic — the old Roman virtue, integrity, patriotism, and faith 
in the gods — was gone, having been swept away by the tide of 
luxury, selfishness, and immorality produced by the long series 
of foreign conquests and robberies in which the Roman people 
had been engaged. The days of liberty at Rome were over. 
From this time forward the government was really in the hands 
of ambitious and popular leaders, or of corrupt combinations and 
" rings." Events gather about a few great names, and the annals 
of the republic become biographical rather than historical. 

There were now in the state three men — Caesar, Crassus, and 
Pompey — who were destined to shape affairs. Gains Julius Caesar 
was born in the year 100 B.C. Although descended from an old 



100 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

patrician family, still his sympathies, and an early marriage to the 
daughter of Cinna, one of the adherents of Marius, led him early 
to identify himself with the Marian, or democratic party. In 
every way Caesar courted public favor. He lavished enormous 
sums upon public games and tables. His debts are said to have 
amounted to 25,000,000 sesterces (^1,250,000). His popularity was 
unbounded. A successful campaign in Spain had already made 
known to himself, as well as to others, his genius as a commander. 

Marcus Licinius Crassus belonged to the senatorial, or aristo- 
cratic party. He owed his influence to his enormous wealth, being 
one of the richest men in the Roman world. His property was 
estimated at 7100 talents (about $8,875,000).^ 

With Gnaeus Pompey and his achievements we are already 
familiar. His influence throughout the Roman world was great ; 
for, in settling and reorganizing the many countries he subdued, he 
had always taken care to reconstruct them in his own interest, as 
well as in that of the republic. The offices, as we have seen, were 
filled with his friends and adherents (see p. 93). This patronage 
had secured for him incalculable authority in the provinces. His 
veteran legionaries, too, were naturally devoted to the general who 
had led them so often to victory. 

1 " The greatest part of this fortune, if we may declare the truth, to his 
extreme disgrace, was gleaned from war and from fires; for he made a traffic 
of the public calamities. When Sulla had taken Rome, and sold the estates of 
those whom he had put to death, which he both reputed and called the spoils 
of his enemies, he was desirous of involving all persons of consequence in his 
crime, and he found in Crassus a man who refused no kind of gift or purchase. 
Crassus observed also how liable the city was to fires, and how frequently houses 
fell down; which misfortunes were owing to the weight of the buildings, and 
their standing so close together. In consequence of this, he provided himself 
with slaves who were carpenters and masons, and went on collecting them till 
he had upwards of five hundred. Then he made it his business to buy houses 
that were on fire, and others that joined upon them; and he commonly had 
them at a low price by reason of the fire, and the distress the owners were in 
about the event. [Then the slaves would set to work and extinguish the fire, 
and Crassus at a small cost would repair the damage.] Hence in time he 
became master of a great part of Rome." — Plutarch. 



THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE. 101 

The First Triumvirate (60 b.c). — What is known as the 
First Triumvirate rested on the genius of Caesar, the wealth of 
Crassus, and the achievements of Pompey. It was a coaUtion or 
private arrangement entered into by these three men for the 
purpose of securing to themselves the control of public affairs. 
Each pledged himself to work for the interests of the others. 
Ccxsar was the manager of the " ring." He skilfully drew away 
Pompey from the aristocratical party, and effected a reconciliation 
between him and Crassus, for they had been at enmity. It was 
agreed that Crassus and Pompey should aid Caesar in securing the 
consulship. In return for this favor, Caesar was to secure for 
Pompey a confirmation of his acts in the East, and allotments of 
land for his veterans, concessions which thus far had been jealously 
withheld by the senatorial party. 

Everything fell out as the triumvirs had planned : Caesar got 
the consulship, and Pompey received the lands for his soldiers. 
The two ablest senatorial leaders, Cato and Cicero, whose incor- 
ruptible integrity threatened the plans of the triumvirs, were got 
out of the way. Cato was given an appointment which sent him 
into honorable exile to the island of Cyprus ; while Cicero, on 
the charge of having denied Roman citizens the right of trial in 
the matter of the Catiline conspirators, was banished from the 
capital, his mansion on the Palatine was razed to the ground, and 
the remainder of his property confiscated. 

Caesar's Conquests in Gaul and Britain (58-51 b.c). — At the 
end of his consulship, Caesar had assigned him the administra- 
tion of the provinces of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul. Already 
he was revolving in his mind plans for seizing supreme power. 
Beyond the Alps the Gallic and Germanic tribes were in resdess 
movement. He saw there a grand field for military exploits, 
which should gain for him such glory and prestige as, in other 
fields, had been won, and were now enjoyed, by Pompey. With 
this achieved, and with a veteran army devoted to his interests, he 
might hope easily to attain that position at the head of affairs 
towards which his ambition was urging him. 



102 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

In the spring of 58 b.c. alarming intelligence from beyond the 
Alps caused Csesar to hasten from Rome into Transalpine Gaul. 
Now began a series of eight brilliant campaigns directed against 
the various tribes of Gaul, Germany, and Britain. In his admi- 
rable " Commentaries " Caesar himself has left us a faithful and 
graphic account of all the memorable marches, battles, and sieges 
that filled the years between 58 and 51 b.c. 

Caesar's first campaign after arriving in Gaul was directed against 
the Helvetians. These people, finding themselves too much 
crowded in their narrow territory, hemmed in as they were be- 
tween the Alps and the Jura ranges, had resolved to seek broader 
fields in the Roman provinces across the Rhone. Disregarding 
the commands of Caesar, the entire nation, numbering with their 
allies 368,000 souls, left their old homes, and began their west- 
ward march. In a great battle Caesar completely defeated the 
barbarians, and forced them back into their old home between the 
mountains, now quite large enough for the survivors, as barely a 
third of those that set out returned. 

Caesar next defeated the Suevi, a German tribe that, under the 
great chieftain Ariovistus, had crossed the Rhine, and were seek- 
ing settlements in Gaul. These people he forced back over the 
Rhine into their native forests. The two years following this cam- 
paign were consumed in subjugating the different tribes in North- 
ern and Western Gaul, and in composing the affairs of the country. 
In the war with the Veneti was fought the first historic naval battle 
upon the waters of the Atlantic. 

The year 55 B.C. marked two great achievements. Early in the 
spring of this year Caesar constructed a bridge across the Rhine, 
and led his legions against the Germans in their native woods and 
swamps. In the autumn of the same year he crossed, by means 
of hastily constructed ships, the channel that separates the main- 
land from Britain, and after maintaining a foothold upon that 
island for two weeks withdrew his legions into Gaul for the winter. 
The following season he made another invasion of Britain ; but, 
after some encounters with the fierce barbarians, recrossed to the 



FESULl^S OF THE GALLIC WARS. 103 

mainland, without having estabhshed any permanent garrisons in 
the island. Almost one hundred years passed away before the 
natives of Britain were again molested by the Romans (see p. 12 8). 

In the year 52 B.C., while Caesar was absent in Italy, a general 
revolt occurred among the GaUic tribes. It was a last desperate 
struggle for the recovery of their lost independence. Vercingeto- 
rix, chief of the Arverni, was the leader of the insurrection. For 
a time it seemed as though the Romans would be driven from the 
country. But Caesar's despatch and genius saved the province to 
the republic. Vercingetorix and 80,000 of his warriors were shut 
up in Alesia, and were finally stai-ved into submission. All Gaul 
was now quickly reconquered and pacified. 

In his campaigns in Gaul, Caesar had subjugated 300 tribes, 
captured 800 cities, and slain 1,000,000 barbarians — one third of 
the entire population of the country. Another third he had taken 
prisoners. Great enthusiasm was aroused at Rome by these victo- 
ries. " Let the Alps sink," exclaimed Cicero : " the gods raised 
them to shelter Italy from the barbarians ; they are now no longer 
needed." 

Results of the Gallic Wars. — One result of the Gallic wars of 
Caesar was the Romanizing of Gaul. The country was opened to 
Roman traders and settlers, who carried with them the language, 
customs, and arts of Italy. Honors were conferred upon many 
of the Gallic chieftains, privileges were bestowed upon cities, and 
the franchise even granted to prominent and influential natives. 
As another result of the conquest of the country, Mommsen gives 
prominence to the checking of migratory movements of the Ger- 
man tribes, which gave " the necessary interval for Italian civiHza- 
tion to become established in Gaul, on the Danube, in Africa, and 
in Spain." 

Crassus in the East. — In the year 56 b.c, while Caesar was in 
the midst of his Gallic wars, he found time to meet Pompey, Cras- 
sus, and two hundred senators and magistrates who co-operated 
with the triumvirs, at Lucca, in Etruria, where, in a sort of conven- 
tion, arrangements were made for another term of five years. (A 



104. LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

nomination by this league or "ring" of politicians and generals was 
equivalent to an election.) It was agreed that Caesar's command in 
Gaul should be extended five years, and that Crassus and Pompey 
should be made consuls. All these measures were carried into 
effect, the elections at Rome being secured by intimidation, and 
by the votes of soldiers of the Galhc legions, to whom Caesar had 
granted furloughs for this purpose. The government of the two 
Spains was given to Pompey, while that of Syria was assigned to 
Crassus. 

The latter hurried to the East, hoping to rival there the brilliant 
conquests of Caesar in the West. At this time the great Parthian 
empire occupied the immense reach of territory stretching from 
the valley of the Euphrates to that of the Indus. Notwithstanding 
that the Parthians were at peace with the Roman people, Crassus 
led his army across the Euphrates, and invaded their territory, 
intent upon a war of conquest and booty. In the midst of the 
Mesopotamian desert he was treacherously deserted by his guides '; 
and his army, suddenly attacked by the Parthian cavalry, was 
almost annihilated. Crassus himself was slain, and his head, so 
it is said, was filled by his captors with molten gold, that he might 
be sated with the metal which he had so coveted during hfe. 

In the death of Crassus, Caesar lost his stanchest friend, one 
who had never failed him, and whose wealth had been freely used 
for his advancement. When Caesar, before his consulship, had 
received a command in Spain, and the immense sums he owed at 
Rome were embarrassing him and preventing his departure, Cras- 
sus had come forward and generously paid more than a million 
dollars of his friend's debts. 

Rivalry between Caesar and Pompey. — After the death of 
Crassus the world belonged to Caesar and Pompey. That the in- 
satiable ambition of these two rivals should sooner or later bring 
them into collision was inevitable. Their alliance in the triumvi- 
rate was simply one of selfish convenience, not of friendship. 
While Caesar was carrying on his brilliant campaigns in Gaul, Pom- 
pey was at Rome watching jealously the growing reputation of his 



RIVALRY BETWEEN CMSAR AND POMPEY. 105 

great rival. He strove, by a princely liberality, to win the affec- 
tions of the common people. On the Field of Mars he erected an 
immense theatre with seats for 40,000 spectators. He gave mag- 
nificent games and set public tables ; and when the interest of the 
people in the sports of the Circus flagged, he entertained them 
with gladiatorial combats. In a similar manner Caesar strength- 
ened himself with the people for the struggle which he plainly fore- 
saw. He sought in every way to ingratiate himself with the Gauls : 
he increased the pay of his soldiers, conferred the privileges of 
Roman citizenship upon the inhabitants of different cities, and 
sent to Rome enormous sums of gold to be expended in the erec- 
tion of temples, theatres, and other public structures, and in the 
celebration of games and shows that should rival in magnificence 
those given by Pompey. 

The terrible condition of affairs at the capital favored the ambi- 
tion of Pompey. So selfish and corrupt were the members of the 
Senate, so dead to all virtue and to every sentiment of patriotism 
were the people, that even such patriots as Cato and Cicero saw 
no hope for the maintenance of the republic. The former favored 
the appointment of Pompey as sole consul for one year, which was 
about the same thing as making him dictator. '' It is better," said 
Cato, *' to choose a master than to wait for the tyrant whom anar- 
chy will impose upon us." The " tyrant " in his and everybody's 
mind was Caesar. 

Pompey now broke with Caesar, and attached himself again to 
the old aristocratical party, which he had deserted for the alliance 
and promises of the triumvirate. The death at this time of his 
wife Julia, the daughter of Caesar, severed the bonds of relation- 
ship at the same moment that those of ostensible friendship were 
broken. 

Caesar crosses the Rubicon (49 b.c). — Caesar now demanded 
the consulship. He knew that his life would not be safe in Rome 
from the jealousy and hatred of his enemies without the security 
from impeachment and trial which that office would give. The 
Senate, under the manipulation of these same enemies, issued a 



106 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

decree that he should resign his office, and disband his Galhc 
legions by a stated day. The crisis had now come. Caesar 
ordered his legions to hasten from Gaul into Italy. Without wait- 
ing for their arrival, at the head of a small body of veterans that 
he had with him at Ravenna, he crossed the Rubicon, a little 
stream that marked the boundary of his province. This was a 
declaration of war. As he plunged into the river, he exclaimed, 
"The die is cast ! " 

The Civil War between Caesar and Pompey (49-48 b.c). — 
The bold movement of Caesar produced great consternation at 
Rome. Realizing the danger of delay, Caesar, without waiting for 
the Galhc legions to join him, marched southward. One city after 
another threw open its gates to him ; legion after legion went over 
to his standard. Pompey and a great part of the senators 
hastened from Rome to Brundisium, and thence with about 
25,000 men fled across the Adriatic into Greece. Within sixty 
days Caesar made himself undisputed master of all Italy. 

Pompey and Caesar now controlled the Roman world. It was 
large, but not large enough for both these ambitious men. As to 
which was likely to become sole master it were difficult for one 
watching events at that time to foresee. Caesar held Italy, Illyri- 
cum, and Gaul, with the resources of his own genius and the 
idolatrous attachment of his soldiers ; Pompey controlled Spain, 
Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Greece, and the provinces of Asia, with 
the prestige of his great name and the enormous resources of 
the East. 

Caesar's first care was to pacify Italy. His moderation and 
prudence won all classes to his side. Many had looked to see the 
terrible scenes of the days of Marius and Sulla re-enacted. Caesar, 
however, soon gave assurance that life and property should be 
held sacred. He needed money ; but to avoid laying a tax upon 
the people, he asked for the treasure kept beneath the Capitol. 
Legend declared that this gold was the actual ransom-money 
which Brennus had demanded of the Romans and which Camillus 
had saved by his timely appearance Tsee p. 33). It was esteemed 



THE BATTLE OF PHARSALUS. 107 

sacred, and was never to be used save in case of another Gallic 
invasion. When Csesar attempted to get possession of the treasure, 
the tribune Metellus prevented him ; but Caesar impatiently 
brushed him aside, saying, " The fear of a Gallic invasion is over : 
I have subdued the Gauls." 

With order restored in Italy, Caesar's next movement was to 
gain control of the wheat-fields of Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa. A 
single legion brought over Sardinia without resistance to the side 
of Caesar. Cato, the Heutenant of Pompey, fled from before Curio 
out of Sicily. In Africa, however, the lieutenant of Caesar sustained 
a severe defeat, and the Pompeians held their ground there until 
the close of the war. Caesar, meanwhile, had subjugated Spain. 
In forty days the entire peninsula was brought under his authority. 
Massiha had ventured to close her gates against the conqueror ; 
but a brief siege forced the city to capitulate. Caesar was now 
free to turn his forces against Pompey in the East. 

The Battle of Pharsalus (48 e.g.). — From Brundisium Caesar 
embarked his legions for Epirus. The passage was an enterprise 
attended with great danger ; for Bibulus, Pompey's admiral, swept 
the sea with his fleets. It was not without having sustained severe 
losses that Caesar effected a landing upon the shores of Greece. 
His legions mustered barely 20,000 men. Pompey's forces were 
at least double this number. Caesar's attempt to capture the 
camp of his rival at Dyrrachium having failed, he slowly retired 
into Thessaly, and drew up his army upon the plains of Pharsalus. 
Here he was followed by Pompey. The adherents of the latter 
were so confident of an easy victory that they were already dis- 
puting about the offices at Rome, and were renting the most 
eligible houses fronting the public squares of the capital. The 
battle was at length joined. It proved Pompey's Waterloo. 
His army was cut to pieces. He himself fled from the field, and 
escaped to Egypt. Just as he was landing, he was stabbed by 
one of his former lieutenants, now an officer at the Egyptian 
court. The reigning Ptolemy had ordered Pompey's assassination 



108 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

in hopes of pleasing Caesar. " If we receive him," said he, "we 
shall make Caesar our enemy and Pompey our master." 

The head of the great general was severed from his body ; and 
when Caesar, who was pressing after Pompey in hot pursuit, landed 
in Egypt, the bloody trophy was brought to him. He turned from 
the sight with generous tears. It was no longer the head of his 
rival, but of his old associate and son-in-law. He ordered his 
assassins to be executed, and directed that fitting obsequies should 
be performed over his body. 

Close of the Civil War. — Caesar was detained at Alexandria 
nine months in settling a dispute respecting the throne of Egypt. 
After a severe contest he overthrew the reigning Ptolemy, and 
secured the kingdom to the celebrated Cleopatra and a younger 
brother. Intelligence was now brought from Asia Minor that 
Pharnaces, son of Mithradates the Great, was inciting a revolt 
among the peoples of that region. Caesar met the Pontic king at 
Zela, defeated him, and in five days put an end to the war. His 
laconic message to the Senate, announcing his victory, is famous. 
It ran thus : "F<?;z/, vidi, vici,^^ — " I came, I saw, I conquered." 

Caesar now hurried back to Italy, and thence proceeded to 
Africa, which the friends of the old republic had made their last 
chief rallying-place. At the great battle of Thapsus (46 B.C.) 
they were crushed. Fifty thousand lay dead upon the field. 
Cato, who had been the very life and soul of the army, refusing 
to outlive the republic, took his own life. 

Caesar's Triumph. — Caesar was now virtually lord of the 
Roman world.^ Although he refrained from assuming the title of 
king, no Eastern monarch was ever possessed of more absolute 
power, or surrounded by more abject flatterers and sycophants. 
He was invested with all the offices and dignities of the state. 
The Senate made him perpetual dictator, and conferred upon him 
the powers of censor, consul, and tribune, with the titles of Pon- 

1 The sons of Pompey — Gnseus and Sextus — still held Spain. Csesar over- 
threw their power in the decisive battle of Munda, 45 B.C. 



CALSAR AS A STATESMAN. 109 

tifex Maximus and Imperator. ^' He was to sit in a golden chair 
in the Senate-house, his image was to be borne in the procession 
of the gods, and the seventh month of the year was changed in 
his honor from QuintiHs to Julius [whence our July]." 

His triumph celebrating his many victories far eclipsed in mag- 
nificence anything that Rome had before witnessed. In the 
procession were led captive princes from all parts of the world. 
Beneath his standards marched soldiers gathered out of almost 
every country beneath the heavens. Seventy-five million dollars 
of treasure were displayed. Splendid games and tables attested 
the liberality of the conqueror. Sixty thousand couches were set 
for the multitudes. The shows of the theatre and the combats of 
the arena followed one another in an endless round. " Above the 
combats of the amphitheatre floated for the first time the awning 
of silk, the immense velarium of a thousand colors, woven from 
the rarest and richest products of the East, to protect the people 
from the sun " (Gibbon). 

Caesar as a Statesman. — Caesar was great as a general, yet 
greater, if possible, as a statesman. The measures which he in- 
stituted evince profound political sagacity and surprising breadth 
of view. He sought to reverse the jealous and narrow policy 
of Rome in the past, and to this end rebuilt both Carthage and 
Corinth and founded numerous colonies in all the different prov-' 
inces, in which he settled about 100,000 of the poorer citizens of 
the capital. Upon some of the provincials he conferred full 
Roman citizenship, and upon others Latin rights (see p. 41, note), 
and thus strove to blend the varied peoples and races within the 
boundaries of the empire into a real nationality, with community 
of interests and sympathies. He reformed the calendar so as to 
bring the festivals once more in their proper seasons, and provided 
against further confusion by making the year consist of 365 days, 
with an added day for every fourth or leap year. 

Besides these achievements, Caesar projected many vast under- 
takings, which the abrupt termination of his life prevented his car- 
rying into execution. He ordered a survey of the enormous 



110 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

domains of the state ; he proposed to make a code or digest of 
the Roman laws — which work was left to be performed by the 
Emperor Justinian six centuries later ; he also planned many 
public works and improvements at Rome, among which were 
schemes for draining the Pontine Marshes and for changing the 
course of the Tiber. He further proposed to cut a canal across 
the Isthmus of Corinth, to construct roads over the Apennines, 
and to form a library to take the place of the great Alexandrian 
collection, which had been partly destroyed during his campaign 
in Egypt. But all his plans were brought to a sudden end by the 
daggers of assassins. 

The Death of Caesar (^44 b.c). — Caesar had his bitter personal 
enemies, who never ceased to plot his downfall. There were, too, 
sincere lovers of the old republic, who longed to see restored the 
Hberty which the conqueror had overthrown. The impression 
began to prevail that Caesar was aiming to make himself king. A 
crown was several times offered him in public by Mark Antony ; 
but seeing the manifest displeasure of the people, he each time 
pushed it aside. Yet there is no doubt that secretly he desired it. 
It was reported that he proposed to rebuild the walls of Troy, 
whence the Roman race had sprung, and make that ancient capital 
the seat of the new Roman empire. Others professed to believe 
that the arts and charms of the Egyptian Cleopatra, who had 
borne him a son at Rome, would entice him to make Alexandria 
the centre of the proposed kingdom. So, many, out of love for 
Rome and the old republic, were led to enter into a conspiracy 
against the hfe of Caesar with those who sought to rid themselves 
of the dictator for other and personal reasons. 

The Ides (the 15 th day) of March, 44 B.C., upon which day 
the Senate convened, witnessed the assassination. Seventy or 
eighty conspirators, headed by Cassius and Brutus, both of whom 
had received special favors from the hands of Caesar, were con- 
cerned in the plot. The soothsayers must have had some knowl- 
edge of the plans of the conspirators, for they had warned Caesar 
to " beware of the Ides of March." On his way to the Senate- 



FUNERAL ORATION BY MARK ANTONY. 



Ill 



meeting that day, a paper warning him of his clanger was thrust 
into his hand ; but, not suspecting its urgent nature, he did not 
open it. As he entered the assembly chamber he observed the 
astrologer Spurinna, and remarked carelessly to him, referring to 
his prediction, " The Ides of March have come." " Yes," replied 
Spurinna, '' but not gone." 

No sooner had Caesar taken his seat than the conspirators 
crowded about him as if to present a petition. Upon a signal 
from one of their number their daggers were drawn. For a 
moment Csesar defended himself; but seeing Brutus, upon whom 
he had lavished gifts and favors, among the conspirators, he is 
said to have exclaimed reproachfully, ^^Et tu, Brute ! " — "Thou, 
too, Brutus ! " drew his mantle over 
his face, and received unresistingly 
their further thrusts. Pierced with 
twenty-three wounds, he sank dead at 
the foot of Pompey's statue. 

Funeral Oration by Mark An- 
tony. — The conspirators, or " libera- 
tors," as they called themselves, had 
thought that the Senate would con- 
firm, and the people applaud, their 
act. But both people and senators, 
struck with consternation, were silent. 
Men's faces grew pale as they re- 
called the proscriptions of Sulla, and 
saw in the assassination of Caesar the first act in a similar reign 
of terror. As the conspirators issued from the assembly hall, and 
entered the Forum, holding aloft their bloody daggers, instead of 
the expected acclamations they were met by an ominous silence. 
The liberators hastened for safety to the Temple of Jupiter Capi- 
tolinus, going thither ostensibly for the purpose of giving thanks 
for the death of the tyrant. 

Upon the day set for the funeral ceremonies, Mark Antony, the 
trusted friend and secretary of Caesar, mounted the rostrum in the 




MARK ANTONY. 



112 



LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 



Forum to deliver the usual funeral oration. He recounted the 
great deeds of Caesar, the glory he had conferred upon the Roman 
name, dwelt upon his liberaHty and his munificent bequests to the 
people — even to some who were now his murderers ; and when 
he had wrought the feelings of the multitude to the highest ten- 
sion, he held up the robe of Caesar, and showed the rents made by 
the daggers of the assassins. Csesar had always been beloved 
by the people and idolized by his soldiers. They were now driven 
almost to frenzy \vith grief and indignation. Seizing weapons and 

torches, they rushed 
through the streets, 
vowing vengeance 
upon the conspira- 
tors. The liberators, 
however, escaped 
from the fury of the 
mob and fled from 
Rome, Brutus and 
Cassius seeking 
refuge in Greece. 

The Second Tri- 
umvirate. — Anto- 
ny had gained pos- 
session of the will 
and papers of Cae- 
sar, and now, under 
color of carrying 
out the testament 
of the dictator, ac- 
cording to a decree 
of the Senate, en- 
tered upon a course 
of high-handed 
usurpation. He was aided in his designs by Lepidus, one of Caesar's 
old lieutenants. Verv soon he was exercising all the powers of 




(From 



JULIUS C>€:SAR. 
Bust in the Museum of the Louvre.) 



THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE. 113 

a real dictator. '• The tyrant is dead," said Cicero, " but the 
tyranny still lives." This was a bitter commentary upon the words 
of Brutus, who, as he drew his dagger from the body of Caesar, 
turned to Cicero, and exclaimed, "Rejoice, O Father of your 
Country, for Rome is free." Rome could not be free, the re- 
public could not be re-established, because the old love for virtue 
and liberty had died out from among the people — had been 
overwhelmed by the rising tide of vice, corruption, sensuality, 
and irreligion that had set in upon the capital. 

To what length Antony would have gone in his career of usurpa- 
tion it is difficult to say, had he not been opposed at this point by 
Gains Octavius, the grand-nephew of Julius Caesar, and the one 
whom he had named in his will as his heir and successor. Upon 
the Senate declaring in favor of Octavius, civil war immediately 
broke out between him and Antony and Lepidus. After several 
indecisive battles between the forces of the rival competitors, 
Octavius proposed to Antony and Lepidus a reconciliation. The 
three met on a small island in the Rhenus, a little stream in 
northern Etruria, and there formed a league known as the Second 
Triumvirate (43 B.C.). 

The plans of the triumvirs were infamous. They first divided 
the world among themselves : Octavius was to have the govern- 
ment of the West ; Antony, that of the East ; while to Lepidus 
fell the control of Africa. A general proscription, such as had 
marked the coming to power of Sulla (see p. 91), was then re- 
solved upon. It was agreed that each should give up to the 
assassin such friends of his as had incurred the ill will of either of 
the other triumvirs. Under this arrangement Octavius gave up 
his friend Cicero, — who had incurred the hatred of Antony by 
opposing his schemes, — and allowed his name to be put at the 
head of the list of the proscribed. 

The friends of the orator ursred him to flee the countrv. " Let 
me die," said he, " in my fatherland, which I have so often 
saved ! " His attendants were hurrying him, half unwilling, 
towards the coast, when his pursuers came up and despatched him 



114 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

in the litter in which he was being carried. His head was taken 
to Rome, and set up in front of the rostrum, " from which he 
had so often addressed the people with his eloquent appeals for 
liberty." It is told that Fulvia, the wife of Antony, ran her gold 
bodkin through the tongue, in revenge for the bitter philippics it 
had uttered against her husband. The right hand of the victim 
— the hand that had penned the eloquent orations — was nailed 
to the rostrum. 

Cicero was but one victim, among many hundreds. All the 
dreadful scenes of the days of Sulla were re-enacted. Three hun- 
dred senators and two thousand knights were murdered. The 
estates of the wealthy were confiscated, and conferred by the tri- 
umvirs upon their friends and favorites. 

Last Struggle of the Republic at Philippi (42 b.c). — The 
friends of the old republic, and the enemies of the triumvirs, were 
meanwhile rallying in the East. Brutus and Cassius were the ani- 
mating spirits. The Asiatic provinces were plundered to raise 
money for the soldiers of the liberators. Octavius and Antony, as 
soon as they had disposed of their enemies in Italy, crossed the 
Adriatic into Greece, to disperse the forces of the republicans 
there. The liberators, advancing to meet them, passed over the 
Hellespont into Thrace. 

Tradition tells how one night a spectre appeared to Brutus and 
seemed to say, " I am thy evil genius ; we will meet again at Phi- 
lippi." At Philippi, in Thrace, the hostile armies did meet (42 b.c). 
In two successive engagements the new levies of the liberators 
were cut to pieces, and both Brutus and Cassius, believing the 
cause of the republic forever lost, committed suicide. It was, 
indeed, the last effort of the republic. The history of the events 
that lie between the action at Philippi and the establishment of 
the empire is simply a record of the struggles among the triumvirs 
for the possession of the prize of supreme power. After various 
redistributions of provinces, Lepidus was at length expelled from 
the triumvirate, and then again the Roman world, as in the times 



ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 115 

of Caesar and Pompey, was in the hands of two masters — Antony 
in the East, and Octavius in the West. 

Antony and Cleopatra. — After the battle of PhiHppi, Antony 
went into Asia for the purpose of settUng the affairs of the prov- 
inces and vassal states there. He summoned Cleopatra, the fair 
queen of Egypt, to meet him at Tarsus, in Cilicia, there to give 
account to him for the aid she had rendered the liberators. She 
obeyed the summons, relying upon the power of her charms to 
appease the anger of the triumvir. She ascended the Cydnus in a 
gilded barge, with oars of silver and sails of purple silk. Beneath 
awnings wrought of the richest manufactures of the East, the 
beautiful queen, attired to personate Venus, reclined amidst lovely 
attendants dressed to represent cupids and nereids. Antony was 
completely fascinated, as had been the great Caesar before him, 
by the dazzhng beauty of the " Serpent of the Nile." Enslaved 
by her enchantments, and charmed by her brilliant wit, in the 
pleasure of her company he forgot all else — ambition and honor 
and country. 

The days and nights were spent in one round of banquets, 
games, and revelries. It is said that the queen, at the close of 
a banquet, in order to win a wager that she could consume 
10,000,000 sesterces at one meal, dissolved, in a cup of vinegar, a 
pearl of fabulous worth, and then carelessly swallowed the costly 
draught. In ingenious ways she amused the Roman voluptuary, 
arraying herself now as Venus and then as Isis, while he perso- 
nated Bacchus and Osiris. Upon their fishing excursions she 
employed divers to fasten enormous fishes to the hook of her 
lover. 

Once, indeed, Antony did rouse himself and break away from 
his enslavement, to lead the Roman legions against the Parthians. 
With an army of 100,000 men he crossed the Euphrates and 
the Tigris, and with reckless daring plunged amidst the defiles 
and snowy passes of the mountains beyond. But the storms 
of approaching winter, and the incessant attacks of the Parthian 
cavalry, at length forced him to make a hurried and disastrous 



116 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

retreat. The loss, the suffering, and the disgrace attending this 
ill-fated expedition rivalled the calamities and dishonor of the 
memorable defeat of Crassus. Antony hastened back to Egypt, 
and sought to forget his shame and disappointment amidst the 
revels of the Egyptian court. 

The Battle of Actium (31 e.g.). — Affairs could not long con- 
tinue in their present course. Antony had put away his faithful 
wife Octavia for the beautiful Cleopatra. It was whispered at 
Rome, and not without truth, that he proposed to make Alexan- 
dria the capital of the Roman world, and announce Csesarion, son 
of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, as heir of the empire. All Rome 
was stirred. It was evident that a conflict was at hand in which 
the question for decision would be whether the West should rule 
the East, or the East rule the West. All eyes were instinctively 
turned to Octavius as the defender of Italy, and the supporter of 
the sovereignty of the Eternal City. Both parties made the most 
gigantic preparations. Octavius met the combined fleets of Antony 
and Cleopatra just off the promontory of Actium, on the Grecian 
coast. While the issue of the battle that there took place was yet 
undecided, Cleopatra turned her galley in flight. The Egyptian 
ships, to the number of fifty, followed her example. Antony, as 
soon as he perceived the withdrawal of Cleopatra, forgot all else, 
and followed in her track with a swift galley. Overtaking the 
fleeing queen, the infatuated man was received aboard her vessel, 
and became her partner in the disgraceful flight. 

The abandoned fleet and army surrendered to Octavius. The 
conqueror was now sole master of the civilized world. From this 
decisive battle (31 b.c.) are usually dated the end of the republic 
and the beginning of the empire. Some, however, make the estab- 
lishment of the empire date from the year 2 7 B.C., as it was not 
until then that Octavius was formally invested with imperial powers. 

Deaths of Antony and Cleopatra. — Octavius pursued Antony 
to Egypt, where the latter, deserted by his army, and informed 
by a messenger from the false queen that she was dead, committed 
suicide. This was exactly what Cleopatra anticipated he would 



DEATHS OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 117 

do, and hoped thus to rid herself of a now burdensome lover. 
When, however, the dying Antony, in accordance with his wish, 
was borne to her, the old love returned, and he expired in her 
arms. 

Cleopatra then sought to enslave Octavius with her charms ; 
but, failing in this, and becoming convinced that he proposed to 
take her to Rome that she might there grace his triumph, she 
took her own life, being in the thirty-eighth year of her age. 
Tradition says that she effected her purpose by applying a poison- 
ous asp to her arm. But it is really unknown in what way she 
killed herself. It is only certain that, when the chamber of the 
mausoleum in which she had shut herself up was one day entered 
by the officers of Octavius, she was found lying dead among her 
attendants, with no mark of injury upon her body. 



118 LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 



CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

B.C. 

Republic established and first consuls elected 509 . 

First secession of plebeians . , ". 494 

Cincinnatus made dictator 458 

Election of first decemvirs 45 1 

First censors elected 444 

Capture of Veii . ' 396 

Sack of Rome by Gauls under Brennus 390 

Samnite wars 343-290 

War with Pyrrhus 282-272 

First Punic War 264-241 

Second Punic War 218-201 

Third Punic War 149-146 

Destruction of Numantia 133 

First Servile War .^ 134-132 

Jugurthine War in-104 

Marius defeats.the Teutones and Cijnbri 102-101 

Civil Wars between Marius and Sulla 88-82 

Pompey defeats Mediterranean pirates 66 

Conspiracy of Catiline 64-62 

First triumvirate formed 60 

Conquests of Caesar in Gaul and Britain 58-51 

Battle of Pharsalus; Pompey flees to Egypt and is murdered ... 48 

Battle of Thapsus; Caesar becomes dictator of Roman world ... 46 

Murder of Caesar 44 

Battle of Philippi; deaths of Brutus and Cassius 42 

Republic ends with battle of Actium between Octavius and Antony . 31 



REIGN OF AUGUSTUS C^SAR. 119 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

(From 31 B.C. to a.d. 180.) 

Reign of Augustus Caesar (31 b.c. to a.d. 14). — The hundred 
years of strife which ended with the battle of Actium left the 
Roman republic, exhausted and helpless, in the hands of one wise 
enough and strong enough to remould its crumbling fragments in 
such a manner that the state, which seemed ready to fall to pieces, 
might prolong its existence for another five hundred years. It was 
a great work thus to create anew, as it were, out of anarchy and 
chaos, a political fabric that should exhibit such elements of per- 
petuity and strength. "The estabHshment of the Roman empire," 
says Merivale, " was, after all, the greatest political work that any 
human being ever wrought. The achievements of Alexander, of 
Caesar, of Charlemagne, of Napoleon, are not to be compared 
with it for a moment." 

The government which Octavius established was a monarchy in 
fact, but a repubhc in form. Mindful of the fate of Julius Caesar, 
who fell because he gave the lovers of the republic reason to 
think that he coveted the title of king, Octavius carefully veiled 
his really absolute sovereignty under the forms of the old repub- 
lican state. The Senate still existed ; but so completely subjected 
were its members to the influence of the conqueror that the only 
function it really exercised was the conferring of honors and titles 
and abject flatteries upon its master. All the republican officials 
remained ; but Octavius absorbed and exercised their chief powers 
and functions. He had the powers of consul, tribune, censor, and 
Pontifex Maximus. All the republican magistrates — the consuls, 
the tribunes, the praetors — were elected as usual; but they were 
simply the nominees and creatures of the emperor. They were 



120 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



the effigies and figure-heads to delude the people into beheving 
that the republic still existed. Never did a people seem more 
content with the shadow after the loss of the substance. 

The Sen- 
ate, acting 
under the 
inspiration 
of Octavius, 
withheld 
from him 
the title of 

king, which ever since the ex- 
pulsion of the Tarquins, five 
centuries before this time, had 
been intolerable to the peo- 
ple ; but they conferred upon 
him the titles of Imperator 
and Augustus, the latter hav- 
ing been hitherto sacred to the 
gods. The sixth month of the 
Roman year was called Au- 
gustus (whence our August) 
in his honor, an act in imi- 
tation of that by which the 
preceding month had been 
given the name of Julius in 
honor of Julius Caesar. 

The domains over which 
Augustus held sway were im- 
perial in magnitude. They 
stretched from the Atlantic 
to the Euphrates, and upon 
the north were hemmed by 

, . . ^ \ AUGUSTUS. 

the forests of Germany and 

the bleak steppes of Scythia, and were bordered on the south by 




REIGN OF AUGUSTUS CMSAR. 121 

the sands of the African desert and the dreary wastes of Arabia, 
which seemed the boundaries set by nature to dominion in those 
directions. Within these limits were crowded more than 100,000,- 
000 people, embracing every conceivable condition and variety in 
race and culture, from the rough barbarians of Gaul to the refined 
voluptuary of the East. 

Octavius was the first to moderate the ambition of the Romans, 
and to counsel them not to attempt to conquer any more of the 
world, but rather to devote their energies to the work of consoli- 
dating the domains already acquired. He saw the dangers that 
would attend any further extension of the boundaries of the state. 

The reign of Augustus lasted forty-four years, from 3 1 b.c. to a.d. 
14. It embraced the most splendid period of the annals of Rome. 
Under the patronage of the emperor, and that of his favorite 
minister Maecenas, poets and writers flourished and made this the 
"golden age" of Latin literature. During this reign Virgil com- 
posed his immortal epic of the ^ngid, and Horace his famous 
odes ; while Livy wrote his inimitable history, and Ovid his Meta- 
morphoses. Many who lamented the fall of the republic sought 
solace in the pursuit of letters ; and in this they were encouraged 
by Augustus, as it gave occupation to many restless spirits that * 
would otherwise have been engaged in political intrigues against 
his government. 

Augustus was also a munificent patron of architecture and art. 
He adorned the capital with many splendid structures. Said he 
proudly, " I found Rome a city of brick ; I left it a city of mar- 
ble." The population of the city at this time was probably about 
1,000,000. Two other cities of the empire, Antioch and Alexan- 
dria, are thought to have had each about this same number of 
citizens. These cities, too, were made magnificent with architec- 
tural and art embellishments. 

Although the government of Augustus was disturbed by some 
troubles upon the frontiers, still never before, perhaps, did the 
world enjoy so long a period of general rest from the preparation 
and turmoil of war. Three times during this auspicious reign the 



122 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

gates of the Temple of Janus at Rome, which were open m time 
of war and closed in time of peace, were shut. Only twice before 
during the entire history of the city had they been closed, so con- 
stantly had the Roman people been engaged in war. It was in 
the midst of this happy reign, when profound peace prevailed 
throughout the civilized world, that Christ was born in Bethlehem 
of Judea. The event was unheralded at Rome ; yet it was filled 
with profound significance, not only for the Roman empire, but 
for the world. 

The latter years of the life of Augustus were clouded both by 
domestic bereavement and national disaster. His beloved nephew 
Marcellus, and his two grandsons, Gains and Lucius, whom he 
purposed making his heirs, were all removed by death ; and then, 
far away in the German forest, his general Varus, who had at- 
tempted to rule the freedom-loving Teutons as he had governed 
the abject Asiatics of the Eastern provinces, was surprised by the 
barbarians, led by their brave chief Hermann, — called Arminius 
by the Romans, — and his army destroyed almost to a man (a.d. 9). 
Twenty thousand of the legionaries lay dead and unburied in the 
tangled woods and morasses of Germany. 

The disaster caused great consternation at Rome ; for it was 
feared that the German tribes would now cross the , Rhine, effect 
an alliance with the Gauls, and then that these united hordes 
would pour over the Alps into Italy. Augustus, wearied and worn 
already with advancing age, the cares of empire, and domestic 
affliction, was inconsolable. He paced his palace in agony, and 
kept exclaiming, " O Varus ! Varus ! give me back my legions ! give 
me back my legions ! " But Tiberius, whom Augustus, after the 
death of Gains and of Lucius, had appointed his heir and suc- 
cessor, so carefully guarded the Rhine that the Germans did not at- 
tempt the passage, and Italy was saved from the threatened invasion. 

The victory of Arminius over the Roman legions was an event 
of the greatest significance in the history of European civilization. 
Germany was almost overrun by the Roman army. The Teutonic 
tribes were on the point of being completely subjugated and 



REIGN OF TIBERIUS. 123 

Romanized, as had been the Celts of Gaul before them. Had 
this occurred, the entire history of Europe would have been 
changed ; for the Germanic element is the one that has given 
shape and color to the important events of the last fifteen hundred 
years. Among these barbarians, too, were our ancestors. Had 
Rome succeeded in exterminating or enslaving them, Britain, as 
Creasy says, might never have received the name of England, and 
the great English nation might never have had an existence.^ 

In the year a.d. 14, Augustus died, having reached the seventy- 
sixth year of his age. His last words to the friends gathered 
about his bedside were, " If I have acted well my part in life's 
drama, greet my departure with your applause." It was believed 
that the soul of Augustus ascended visibly amidst the flames of 
his funeral pyre. By decree of the Senate divine worship was 
accorded to him, and temples were erected in his honor. 

One of the most important of the acts of Augustus, in its in- 
fluence upon following events, was the formation of the Praeto- 
rian Guard, which was designed for a sort of body-guard to the 
emperor. In the succeeding reign this body of soldiers, about 
10,000 in number, was given a permanent camp alongside the 
city walls. It soon became a formidable power in the state, and 
made and unmade emperors at will. 

Reign of Tiberius (a.d. 14-37). — Tiberius succeeded to an 
unhmited sovereignty. The Senate conferred upon him all the 
titles that had been worn by Augustus. One of the first acts of 
Tiberius gave the last blow to the ancient republican institutions. 
He took away from the popular assembly the privilege of electing 
the consuls and praetors, and bestowed the same upon the Senate, 
which, however, must elect from candidates presented by the 
emperor. As the Senate was the creation of the emperor, who as 

^ " We stand here at a turning-point in national destinies. History, too, 
has its flow and its ebb; here, after the tide of Roman sway over the world 
has attained its height, the ebb sets in. Northward of Italy the Roman rule 
had for a few years reached as far as the Elbe; after the battle of Varus its 
bounds were the Rhine and the Danube." — Mommsen. 



124 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



censor made up the list of its members, he was now of course the 
source and fountain of all patronage. During the first years of 
his reign, Tiberius used his practically unrestrained authority with 
moderation and justice, being seemingly desirous of promoting the 
best interests of all classes in his vast empire. 




TIBERIUS. 
(From a Bust in the Capitoline Museum.) 



The beginning of his reign was marked by revolts among the 
legions, the most serious discontent manifesting itself among those 
guarding the Rhine, who wished to raise to the throne their favor- 
ite general Germanicus, nephew of Tiberius. But Germanicus 
sternly refused to take part in such an act of treachery, reproved 
his soldiers, and then drew their attention from such thoughts of 



REIGN OF TIBERIUS. 125 

disloyalty by leading them across the Rhine to recover the lost 
standards of Varus. He was so far successful in this bold enter- 
prise as to retake the lost eagles and capture the wife of Arminius. 
But at this moment, when Germanicus seemed on the point of 
laying the Roman yoke upon the tribes of Germany, Tiberius, 
moved, it is conjectured, by jealousy,^ recalled him from the Rhen- 
ish frontier, and sent him into the Eastern provinces, where he 
soon after died, having been poisoned, as was charged, by an 
agent of the jealous emperor. 

Despotic power is a dangerous possession, likely to prove 
terribly harmful to him who wields it, as well as to those over 
whom it is exercised. Very few natures can withstand the seduc- 
tive temptations, the corrupting influences, of unrestrained and 
irresponsible authority.^ Hence the long series of excesses and 
crimes which we shall now find making up a large part of the 
annals of the Roman emperors. 

Whatever may have been the intentions with which Tiberius 
began his reign he soon yielded to the promptings of a naturally 
cruel, suspicious, and jealous nature, and entered upon a course of 
the most high-handed tyranny. He enforced oppressively an old 
law, known as the Law of Majestas, which made it a capital 
offence for any one to speak a careless word, or even to entertain 

1 Other motives doubtless concurred. " They [Augustus and Tiberius] rec- 
ognized the plans pursued by them for twenty years for the changing of the 
boundary to the north as incapable of execution, and the subjugation and mas- 
tery of the region between the Rhine and the Elbe appeared to them to tran- 
scend the resources of the empire." — Mommsen. 

2 " Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero [were] men whose names burnt 
themselves forever into the memory of the race. All these men, in different 
ways, illustrated the terrible efficacy of absolute world-dominion to poison the 
character and even to unhinge the intellect of him who wielded it. Standing 
as it were on the Mount of Temptation, and seeing all the kingdoms of the 
world and all the glory of them stretched at an immeasurable distance below 
their feet, they were seized with a dizziness of soul, and, professing themselves 
to be gods, did deeds at the instigation of their wild hearts and whirling 
brains such as men still shudder to think of." — Hodgkin. 



126 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

an unfriendly thought, respecting the emperor. " It was danger- 
ous to speak, and equally dangerous to keep silent," says Leighton, 
" for silence even might be construed into discontent." Rewards 
were offered to informers, and hence sprang up a class of persons 
called " delators," who acted as spies upon society. Often false 
charges were made, to gratify personal enmity ; and many, espe- 
cially of the wealthy class, were accused and put to death that 
their property might be confiscated. 

Tiberius appointed, as his chief minister and as commander of 
the praetorians, one Sejanus, a man of the lowest and most corrupt 
life. This officer actually persuaded Tiberius to retire to the 
little island of Capreae, in the Bay of Naples, and leave to him the 
management of affairs at Rome. The emperor built several villas 
in different parts of the beautiful islet, and, having gathered a 
band of congenial companions, passed in this pleasant retreat the 
later years of his reign. Both Tacitus the historian and Suetonius 
the biographer tell many stories of the scandalous profligacy 
of the emperor's life on the island ; but these tales, it should be 
added, are discredited by some. 

Meanwhile, Sejanus was ruling at Rome very much according 
to his own will. No man's life was safe. He even grew so bold 
as to plan the assassination of the emperor himself. His designs, 
hov/ever, became known to Tiberius ; and the infamous and dis- 
loyal minister was arrested and put to death. 

After the execution of his minister, Tiberius ruled more des- 
potically than before. Multitudes sought refuge from his tyranny 
in suicide. Death at last relieved the world of the monster. His 
end was probably hastened by his attendants, who are believed 
to have smothered him in his bed, as he lay dying. 

It was in the midst of the reign of Tiberius that, in a remote 
province of the Roman empire, the Saviour was crucified. Ani- 
mated by an unparalleled missionary spirit, his followers traversed 
the length and breadth of the empire, preaching everywhere the 
'^glad tidings." Men's loss of faith in the gods of the old mythol- 
ogies, the softening and liberalizing influence of Greek culture, 



REIGN OF CALIGULA. 127 

the unification of the whole civilized world under a single govern- 
ment, the widespread suffering and the inexpressible weariness 
of the oppressed and servile classes, — all these things had pre- 
pared the soil for the seed of the new doctrines. In less than 
three centuries the Pagan empire had become Christian not only 
in name, but also very largely in fact. This conversion of Rome 
is one of the most important events in all history. A new ele- 
ment is here introduced into civilization, an element which we 
shall find giving color and character to very much of the story of 
the eighteen centuries that we have yet to study. 

Reign of Caligula (a.d. 37-41). — Gains Caesar, better known 
as Caligula, son of Germanicus, was only twenty-five years of age 
when the death of Tiberius called him to the throne. His sur- 
name Caligula was given him by the German legions, because, when 
a Httle boy, he was kept by his father in the camp, and to please 
the men, dressed like a little soldier with mihtary buskins {caligcB) . 

His career was very similar to that of Tiberius. After a few 
months spent in arduous application to the affairs of the empire, 
during which time his many acts of kindness and piety won for 
him the affections of all classes, the mind of the young emperor 
became unsettled. His rest was feverish ; and often he paced the 
halls of his palace the night through with wild and incoherent rav- 
ings. He soon gave himself up to the most detestable dissipations. 
The cruel sports of the amphitheatre possessed for him a strange 
fascination. When animals failed, he ordered spectators to be 
seized indiscriminately and thrown to the beasts. He even 
entered the lists himself, and fought as a gladiator upon the arena. 

Stories without number are told illustrating his insanities and 
extravagances. He is said to have caused persons to be tortured 
at his banquets, that their cries and groans might add to the enjoy- 
ment of the meal. He lamented that no great calamity marked 
his reign, such as that which had occurred in the reign of Tiberius, 
when 50,000 persons lost their lives in the fall of the great 
theatre at Fidense. In a sanguinary mood, he wished that " the 
people of Rome had but one neck." He built a bridge from his 



128 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

palace on the Palatine to the temple on the Capitoline hill, that he 
might be " next neighbor " to Jupiter. In order to rival the 
Hellespontine bridges of Xerxes, he constructed a bridge over the 
bay at Baiae. The structure broke beneath the triumphal proces- 
sion on the day of dedication ; and Caligula, delighted with the 
spectacle of the struggling victims, forbade any one to attempt to 
save the drowning. 

It is said that he emulated the example of Cleopatra by dissolv- 
ing costly gems and drinking them at a draught. A single dinner 
cost ^400,000. As an insult to his nobles he gave out that he pro- 
posed to make his favorite horse, Incitatus, consul, and frequently 
invited the steed from his ivory stable to eat gilded grain at the im- 
perial board. He personated in turn all the gods and goddesses, 
arraying himself at one time as Hercules or Bacchus, and again 
as Juno or Venus. He declared himself divine, set up his statues 
for worship, and even removed the heads of Jupiter's statues and 
put his own in their place. 

During his reign he set out on an expedition against Britain ; 
but on reaching the sea he set his soldiers to work collecting 
shells along the beach, which " spoils of the ocean " he then sent 
back to Rome as the trophies of his enterprise, A campaign 
against the Germans ended at the Rhenish frontier with not cap- 
tives enough in his hands for a triumph ; accordingly, he hired, 
so the story runs, a great number of Gauls to personate German 
prisoners, and thus supplied the embarrassing deficiency. 

After four years the insane career of Cahgula was brought to 
a close by some of the officers of the praetorian guard whom he 
had wantonly insulted. 

Reign of Claudius (a.d. 41-54). — The reign of Claudius, 
Caligula's successor, was signalized by the conquest of Britain. 
Nearly a century had now passed since the invasion of the island 
by Julius Caesar, who, as has been seen (see p. 102), simply 
made a reconnoissance of the island and then withdrew. Claudius 
conquered all the southern portion of the island, and founded 
many colonies, which in time became important centres of Roman 



REIGN OF CLAUDIUS. 129 

trade and culture. The leader of the Britons was Caractacus. 
He was taken captive and carried to Rome. Gazing in astonish- 
ment upon the magnificence of the imperial city, he exclaimed, 
"How can people possessed of such splendor at home envy 
Caractacus his humble cottage in Britain?" 

Claudius distinguished his reign by the execution of many 
important works. At the mouth of the Tiber he constructed a 
magnificent harbor, called the Portus Romanus. The Claudian 
Aqueduct, which he completed, was a stupendous work, bringing 
water to the city from a distance of forty-five miles. 

The delight of the people in gladiatorial shows had at this time 
become almost an insane frenzy. Claudius determined to give an 
entertainment that should render insignificant all similar efforts. 
Upon a large lake, whose sloping bank afforded seats for the vast 
multitude of spectators, he exhibited a naval battle, in which two 
opposing fleets, bearing 19,000 gladiators, fought as though in 
real battle, till the water was filled with thousands of bodies, and 
covered with fragments of the broken ships. 

Throughout his life Claudius was ruled by intriguing favorites 
and unworthy wives. For his fourth wife he married the "wicked 
Agrippina," who secured his death by means of a dish of poisoned 
mushrooms, in order to make place for the succession of her son 
Nero. 

Reign of Nero (a.d. 54-68). — Nero was fortunate in having 
for his preceptor the great philosopher and moralist Seneca ; but 
never was teacher more unfortunate in his pupil. For five years 
Nero, under the influence of Seneca and Burrhus, the latter the 
commander of the praetorians, ruled with moderation and equity. 
But his own mother, Agrippina, intrigued against him in favor of 
a younger son ; and Nero, after failing in an attempt to drown 
her while she was crossing the bay at Baiae, secured her death by 
the hand of an assassin. He now broke away from the guidance 
of his tutor Seneca, and entered upon a career filled with crimes 
of almost incredible enormity. The dagger and poison were in 
constant demand. The use of the latter had become a " fine art " 



130 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

in the hands of a regular profession. Both were employed almost 
unceasingly to remove persons that had incurred his hatred, or who 
possessed wealth that he coveted. Like Caligula, he degraded 
the imperial purple by contending in the gladiatorial combats of 
the arena and in the games of the circus. 

It was in the tenth year of his reign that the so-called Great 
Fire laid more than half of Rome in ashes. Temples, monu- 
ments, and buildings of every description were swept away by 
the flames, that surged like a sea through the valleys and about 
the base of the hills occupied by the city. The people, in the 
dismay of the moment, were ready to catch up any rumor respect- 
ing the origin of the fire. It was reported that Nero had ordered 
the conflagration to be lighted, and that from the roof of his palace 
he had enjoyed the spectacle, and amused himself by singing a 
poem which he himself had written, entitled the "Sack of Troy." 

Nero did everything in his power to discredit the rumor. He 
went in person amidst the sufferers, and distributed money with 
his own hand. To further turn attention from himself, he 
accused the Christians of having conspired to destroy the city, 
in order to help out their prophecies. The doctrine which was 
taught by some of the new sect respecting the second coming of 
Christ, and the destruction of the world by fire, lent color to the 
charge. The persecution that followed was one of the most cruel 
recorded in the history of the Church. Many victims were 
covered with pitch and burned at night, to serve as torches in 
the imperial gardens. Tradition preserves the names of the 
apostles Peter and Paul as victims of this Neronian persecu- 
tion. 

As to Rome, the conflagration was a blessing in disguise. 
Requisitions of money and material were made upon all the 
Roman world for the rebuilding of the burnt districts. The city 
rose from its ashes as quickly as Athens from her ruins at the 
close of the Persian wars. The new buildings were made fire- 
proof; and the narrow, crooked streets reappeared as broad and 
beautiful avenues. Water was distributed from the aqueducts 



REIGN OF NERO. 131 

through all the houses and grounds. A considerable portion of 
the burnt region was appropriated by Nero for the buildings and 
grounds of an immense palace, called the " Golden House." It 
covered so much space that the people " maliciously hinted " 
that Nero had fired the old city in order to make room for it. 

The emperor secured money for his enormous expenditures by 
new extortions, murders, and confiscations. No one of wealth 
knew but that his turn might come next. A conspiracy was 
formed among the nobles to relieve the state of the monster. 
The plot was discovered, and again " the city was filled with 
funerals." Lucan the poet, and Seneca, the old preceptor of 
Nero, both fell victims to the tyrant's rage. 

Nero now made a tour through the East, and there plunged 
deeper and deeper into every shame, sensuality, and crime. The 
tyranny and the disgrace were no longer endurable. Almost at 
the same moment the legions in several of the provinces revolted. 
The Senate decreed that the emperor was a public enemy, and 
condemned him to a disgraceful death by scourging, to avoid 
which he instructed a slave how to give him a fatal thrust. His 
last words were, " What a loss my death will be to art ! " 

Nero was the sixth and last of the Julian line. The family of 
the Great Caesar was now extinct ; but the name remained, and 
was adopted by all the succeeding emperors. 

Galba, Otho, and Vitellius (a.d. 68-69). — These three names 
are usually grouped together, as their reigns were all short and 
uneventful. The succession, upon the death of Nero and the 
extinction in him of the Julian line, was in dispute, and the 
legions in different quarters supported the claims of their favor- 
ite leaders. One after another the three aspirants named were 
killed in bloody struggles for the imperial purple. The last, 
Vitellius, was hurled from the throne by the soldiers of Vespasian, 
the old and beloved commander of the legions in Palestine, 
which were at this time engaged in war with the Jews. 

Reign of Vespasian (a.d. 69-79). — The accession of Flavins 
Vespasian marks the beginning of a period, embracing three 



132 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



reigns, known as the Flavian Age (a.d. 69-96). Vespasian's 
reign was signalized both by important military achievements 
abroad and by stupendous pubhc works undertaken at Rome. 

After one of the most harassing sieges recorded in history, 
Jerusalem was taken by Titus, son of Vespasian. The Temple 

was destroyed, 



and more than 
a million of 
Jews that were 
crowded in the 
city are believed 
to have perished. 
Great multitudes 
suffered death by 




COIN OF VESPASIAN. 



crucifixion. The miserable remnants of the nation were scattered 
everywhere over the world. Josephus, the great historian, accom- 
panied the conqueror to Rome. In imitation of Nebuchadnezzar, 
Titus robbed the Temple of its sacred utensils, and bore them 
away as trophies. Upon the triumphal arch at Rome that bears 
his name may be seen at the present day the sculptured represen- 
tation of the golden candlestick, which was one of the memorials 
of the war. 

In the opposite corner of the em.pire a dangerous revolt of the 
Gauls was suppressed, and in the island of Britain the Roman 
commander Agricola subdued or crowded back the native tribes 
until he had extended the frontiers of the empire into what is now 
Scotland. Then, as a protection against the incursions of the 
Caledonians, the ancestors of the Scottish Highlanders, he con- 
structed a line of fortresses from the Frith of Forth to the Frith 
of Clyde. 

Vespasian rebuilt the Capitoline temple, which had been burned 
during the struggle between his soldiers and the adherents of 
Vitellius ; he constructed a new forum which bore his own name ; 
and also began the erection of the celebrated Flavian amphi- 
theatre, which was completed by his successor. After a most 



REIGN OF TITUS. 



133 



prosperous reign of ten years, Vespasian died a.d. 79, the first 
emperor after Augustus that did not meet with a violent death. 
At the last moment he requested his attendants to raise him upon 
his feet that he might "die standing," as befitted a Roman 
emperor. 




TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION FROM THE ARCH OF TITUS. 
(Showing the Seven-branched Candlestick and Other Trophies fronn the Temple at Jerusalem.) 

Reign of Titus (a.d. 79-81). — In a short reign of two years 
Titus won the title, the " Delight of Mankind." He was un- 
wearied in acts of benevolence and in bestowal of favors. Hav- 
ing let a day slip by without some act of kindness performed, 
he is said to have exclaimed reproachfully, " I have lost a day." 

Titus completed and dedicated the great Flavian amphitheatre 
begim by his father, Vespasian. This vast structure, which accom- 
modated more than 80,000 spectators, is better known as the 
Colosseum — a name given it either because of its gigantic pro- 
portions, or on account of a colossal statue of Nero which hap- 
pened to stand near it. 



134 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



The reign of Titus, though so short, was signaHzed by two great 
disasters. The first was a conflagration at Rome, which was almost 
as calamitous as the Great Fire in the reign of Nero. The second 
was the destruction, by an eruption of Vesuvius, of the Campanian 
cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The cities were buried 
beneath showers of cinders, ashes, and streams of volcanic mud. 
Pliny the Elder, the great naturalist, venturing too near the moun- 
tain to investigate the phenomenon, lost his life.^ 




STREET IN POMPEII. (A Reconstruction.) 

Domitian — Last of the Twelve Caesars (a.d. 81-96). — Domi- 
tian, the brother of Titus, was the last of the hne of emperors 

1 In the year 1713, sixteen centuries after the destruction of the cities, the 
ruins were discovered by some persons engaged in digging a well, and since 
then extensive excavations have been made, which have uncovered a large 
part of Pompeii, and revealed to us the streets, homes, theatres, baths, shops, 
temples, and various monuments of the ancient city — all of which presents to 
us a very vivid picture of Roman life during the imperial period, eighteen 
hundred years ago. 




25 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE 

UNDER TRAJAN 

A.D.II7. 



/ 



THE FIVE GOOD EMPERORS. 135 

known as " the Twelve Caesars." The title, however, was assumed 
by, and is applied to, all the succeeding emperors : the sole rea- 
son that the first twelve princes are grouped together is because 
the Roman biographer Suetonius completed the lives of that 
number only. 

Domitian's reign was an exact contrast to that of his brother 
Titus. It was one succession of extravagances, tyrannies, confis- 
cations, and murders. Under this emperor took place what is 
known in church history as " the second persecution of the Chris- 
tians." This class, as well as the Jews, were the special objects of 
Domitian's hatred, because they refused to worship the statues of 
himself which he had set up (see p. 141). 

The last of the Twelve Caesars perished in his own palace, and 
by the hands of members of his own household. The Senate 
ordered his infamous name to be erased from the public monu- 
ments, and to be blotted from the records of the Roman state. 

The Five Good Emperors: Reign of Nerva (a.d. 96-98). — 
The five emperors — Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two An- 
tonines — that succeeded Domitian were elected by the Senate, 
which during this period assumed something of its former weight 
and influence in the affairs of the empire. The wise and benefi- 
cent administration of the government by these rulers secured 
for them the enviable distinction of being called " the five good 
emperors." Nerva died after a short reign of sixteen months, 
and the sceptre passed into the stronger hands of the able com- 
mander Trajan, whom Nerva had previously made his associate in 
the government. 

Reign of Trajan (a.d. 98-117). — Trajan was a native of Spain, 
and a soldier by profession and talent. His ambition to achieve 
mihtary renown led him to undertake distant and important con- 
quests. It was the policy of Augustus — a policy adopted by 
most of his successors — to make the Danube in Europe and the 
Euphrates in Asia the limits of the Roman empire in those respec- 
tive quarters. But Trajan determined to push the frontiers of his 
dominions beyond both these rivers, scorning to permit Nature, 



136 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



by these barriers, to mark out the confines of Roman sovereignty. 
He crossed the Danube by means of a bridge, the foundations 
of which may still be seen, and subjugated the bold and warlike 
Dacian tribes lying behind that stream — tribes that had often 

threatened the peace of the 




empire. 



After celebrating his 



victories in a magnificent tri- 
umph at Rome, Trajan turned 
to the East, led his legions 
across the Euphrates, re- 
duced Armenia, and wrested 
from the Parthians most of 
the territory which anciently 
formed the heart of the As- 
syrian monarchy. To Tra- 
jan belongs the distinction 
of extending the boundaries 
of the empire to the most 
distant points to which Ro- 
man ambition and prowess 
were ever able to push them. 
But Trajan was something 
besides a soldier. He had 
a taste for Hterature : Juve- 
nal, Plutarch, and the younger 
Pliny wrote under his pat- 
ronage ; and, moreover, as 
is true of almost all great 
conquerors, he had a perfect 
passion for building. Among 
the great works with which 
he embellished the capital was the Trajan Forum. Here he 
erected the celebrated marble shaft known as Trajan's column. 
It is T47 feet high, and is wound from base to summit with a 
spiral band of sculptures, containing more than 25,000 human 



TRAJAN. 



REIGN OF TRAJAN. 



137 



figures. The column is nearly as perfect to-day as when reared 
eighteen centuries ago. It was intended to commemorate the 
Dacian conquests of Trajan ; and its pictured sides are the best, 
and almost the only, record we now possess of those wars. 

Respecting the rapid spread of Christianity at this time, the 
character of the early professors of the new faith, and the light 
in which they were viewed by the rulers of the Roman world, we 
have very important evidence in a certain letter written by Pliny 
the Younger to the emperor in regard to the Christians of Pontus, 
in Asia Minor, of which remote province Pliny was governor. 




BESIEGING A DACIAN CITY. (From Trajan's Column ) 



Pliny speaks of the new creed as a '' contagious superstition, that 
had seized not cities only, but the lesser towns also, and the open 
country." Yet he could find no fault in the converts to the new 
doctrines. Notwithstanding this, however, because the Christians 
steadily refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods, he ordered many 
to be put to death for their " inflexible obstinacy." 

Trajan died a.d. 117, after a reign of nineteen years, one of the 
most prosperous and fortunate that had yet befallen the lot of the 
Roman people. 

Reign of Hadrian (a.d. i 17-138). — Hadrian, a kinsman of 
Trajan, succeeded him in the imperial office. He possessed great 
ability, and displayed admirable moderation and prudence in the 



138 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



administration of the government. He gave up the territory con- 
quered by Trajan in the East, and made the Euphrates once more 
the boundary of the empire in that quarter. He also broke down 
the bridge that Trajan had built over the Danube, and made that 
stream the real frontier hne, notwithstanding the Roman garrisons 
were still maintained in Dacia. Hadrian saw plainly that Rome 
could not safely extend any more widely the frontiers of the 
empire. Indeed, so active and threatening were the enemies of 

the empire in the East, and so dar- 
ing and numerous had now become 
its barbarian assailants of the North, 
that there was reason for the greatest 
anxiety lest they should break through 
even the old and strong lines of the 
Danube and the Euphrates, and pour 
their devastating hordes over the 
provinces. 

More than fifteen years of his reign 
were spent by Hadrian in making 
tours of inspection through all the 
different provinces of the empire. 
He visited Britain, and secured the 
Roman possessions there against the 
Picts and Scots by erecting a contin- 
uous wall across the island. Next 
he journeyed through Gaul and Spain, 
and then visited in different tours all 
the remaining countries bordering 
upon the Mediterranean. He as- 
cended the Nile, and, traveller-like, 
carved his name upon the vocal Memnon. The cities which 
he visited he decorated with temples, theatres, and other monu- 
ments. Some places, however, including Antioch, which received 
their emperor ungraciously, he neglected to make the recipients 
of his royal liberality. The atmosphere of Athens, with its 




HADRIAN. 



REIGN OF HADRIAN. 1 39 

schools and scholars, was especially congenial to his inquiring 
spirit j and upon that city he lavished large sums in art adorn- 
ments until it almost seemed as though the Periclean Age had 
returned to the Attic capital. 

In the year 131, the Jews in Palestine, who had in a measure 
recovered from the blow Titus had given their nation, broke out 
in desperate revolt, because of the planting of a Roman colony 
upon the almost desolate site of Jerusalem, and the placing of 
the statue of Jupiter in the Holy Temple. More than half a 
milHon of Jews perished in the useless struggle, and the survivors 
were driven into exile — the last dispersion of the race. 

The latter years of his reign Hadrian passed at Rome. It was 
here that this princely builder erected his most splendid structures. 
Among these was the Mole, or Mausoleum, of Hadrian, an immense 
structure surmounted by a gilded dome, erected on the banks of 
the Tiber, and designed as a tomb for himself (see p. 189). 
^ With all his virtues, Hadrian was foolishly vain of his accom- 
plishments, impatient of contradiction, and often most unrea- 
sonable and imperious. It is related that he put to death the 
architect Apollodorus for venturing to criticise the royal taste 
in some architectural matter. Favorinus, the rhetorician, was 
evidently more judicious ; for when asked " why he suffered 
the emperor to silence him in an argument on a point of gram- 
mar, he replied, * It is ill disputing with the master of thirty 
legions.' " 

The Antonines (a.d. 138-180). — Aurelius Antoninus, surnamed 
Pius, the adopted son of Hadrian, and his successor, gave the 
Roman empire an administration singularly pure and parental. 
Of him it has been said that " he was the first, and, saving his 
colleague and successor AureHus, the only one of the emperors 
who devoted himself to the task of government with a single 
view to the happiness of his people." Throughout his long reign 
of twenty-three years, the empire was in a state of profound 
peace. The attention of the historian is attracted by no striking 
events, which fact, as many have not failed to observe, illustrates 



140 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

admirably the oft-repeated maxim, " Happy is that people whose 
annals are brief." 

Antoninus, early in his reign, united with himself in the govern- 
ment his adopted son Marcus Aurelius, and upon the death of the 
former (a.d. i6i) the latter succeeded quietly to his place and 
work. His studious habits won for him the title of " Philosopher." 
He belonged to the school of the Stoics, and was a most thoughtful 
writer. His Meditations breathe the tenderest sentiments of devo- 
tion and benevolence, and make the nearest approach to the spirit 
of Christianity of all the writings of Pagan antiquity. He estab- 
lished an institution or home for orphan girls ; and, finding the 
poorer classes throughout Italy burdened by their taxes and 

greatly in arrears in paying them, he 
caused all the tax-claims to be heaped 
in the Forum and burned. 

The tastes and sympathies of Aure- 
Uus would have led him to choose a 
life passed in retirement and study at 
the capital ; but hostile movements of 
the Parthians, and especially invasions 
of the barbarians along the Rhenish 
and Danubian frontiers, called him 

ANTONINUS PIUS. ' 

,r, o •■ ..u D . ^/, ^ from his books, and forced him to 

(From a Com in the Berlin Museum.) ' 

spend most of the latter years of his 
reign in the camp. The Parthians, who had violated their treaty 
with Rome, were chastised by the lieutenants of the emperor, 
and Mesopotamia again fell under Roman authority. 

This war drew after it a series of terrible calamities. The 
returning soldiers brought with them the Asiatic plague, which 
swept off vast numbers, especially in Italy, where entire cities and 
districts were depopulated. In the general distress and panic, the 
superstitious people were led to believe that it was the new sect 
of Christians that had called down upon the nation the anger of 
the gods. Aurelius permitted a fearful persecution to be instituted 




THE ANTONINES. 141 

against them, during which the celebrated Christian fathers and 
bishops, Justin Martyr and Polycarp, suffered death. 

It should be noted that the persecution of the Christians under 
the Pagan emperors sprung from poHtical rather than rehgious mo- 
tives, and that this is why we find the names of the best emperors, 
as well as those of the worst, in the list of persecutors. It was 
beheved that the welfare of the state was bound up with the care- 
ful performance of the rites of the national worship ; and hence, 
while the Roman rulers were usually very tolerant, allowing all 
forms of worship among their subjects, still they required that men 
of every faith should at least recognize the Roman gods, and burn 
incense before their statues. This the Christians steadily refused 
to do. Their neglect of the service of the temple, it was beheved, 
angered the gods, and endangered the safety of the state, bringing 
upon it drought, pestilence, and every disaster. This was the 
main reason of their persecution by the Pagan emperors. 

But pestilence and persecution were both forgotten amidst the 
imperative calls for immediate help that now came from the North. 
The barbarians were pushing in the Roman outposts, and pouring 
impetuously over the frontiers. To the panic of the plague was 
added this new terror. Aurelius placed himself at the head of his 
legions, and hurried beyond the Alps. For many years, amidst 
the snows of winter and the heats of summer, he strove to beat 
back the assailants of the empire. 

Once his army was completely surrounded, and his soldiers 
were dying of thirst, when a violent thunder-storm not only 
relieved their sufferings, but also struck such terror into the bar- 
barians as to scatter them in flight. The Romans thought that 
Jupiter Tonans had interfered in their behalf; but the Christians 
that made up the twelfth legion maintained that God had sent the 
rain in answer to their prayers. The Christians received the title 
of the ** Thundering Legion " ; while upon the Column of Aurelius 
at Rome — where it may still be seen — was carved the scene in 
which Olympian Jove the Thunderer is represented " raining and 
lightening out of heaven." 



142 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



The efforts of the devoted AureHus checked the inroads of the 
barbarians ; but he could not subdue them, so weakened was the 
empire by the ravages of the pestilence, and so exhausted was the 
treasury from the heavy and constant drains upon it. At last his 
weak body gave way beneath the hardships of his numerous cam- 
paigns, and he died in his camp at Vindobona (now Vienna) , in 
the nineteenth year of his reign (a.d. i8o). 

The united voice of the Senate and people pronounced him a 
god, and divine worship was accorded to his statue. Never was 
Monarchy so justified of her children as in the lives and works of 
the Antonines. As Merivale, in dwelhng upon their virtues, very 
jusdy remarks, " the blameless career of these illustrious princes 
has furnished the best excuse for Csesarism in all after-ages." 



ROMAN EMPERORS FROM AUGUSTUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS. 



(From 31 B.C. to a.d. 180.) 



Augustus reigns . 31 B.C. to a.d. 14 

Tiberius a.d. 14-37 

Caligula 37-41 

Claudius 41-54 

Nero 54-68 

Galba 68-69 

Otho 69 

Vitellius 69 

Vespasian 69-79 



Titus a.d. 79-81 

Domitian 81-96 

Nerva . ^ 96-98 

Trajan 98-117 

Hadrian "7-138 

Antoninus Pius . \. . . . 1 38-1 61 
Marcus Aurelius . . . . 161-180 
Verus associated with Au- 
relius 161-169 



The first eleven, in connection with Julius Caesar, are called the Twelve 
Caesars. The last five (excluding Verus) are known as the Five Good 
Emperors. 



143 




UNDZR THE EMPIRE 

SCALE OF YARDS 
m 500 



I, 


Colosseum. 


I.S. 


Pantheon. 


2. 


Arch of Constantine. 


16. 


Theatre of Pompey. 


3- 


Arch of Titus. 


17- 


Portico of Pompey. 


4- 


Via Sacra. 


18. 


Circus Flaminius. 


5- 


Via Nova. 


19. 


Theatre of Marcellus. 


6. 


Vicus Tuscus. 


20. 


Forum Holitorium. 


7- 


Vicus Jugarius. 


21. 


Forum Boarium, 


8. 


Arch of Septimius Severus. 


22. 


Mausoleum of Augustus. 


9- 


Clivus Capitolinus. 


23- 


Mausoleum of Hadrian. 


lO. 


Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. 


24. 


Baths of Constantine. 


II. 


Arch. 


25- 


Baths of Diocletian. 


12. 


Column of Trajan. 


26. 


Baths of Titus. 


13- 


Column of Antonine. 


27. 


Baths of Caracalla. 


14. 


Baths of Agrippa. 


28. 


Amphitheatrum Castrense 



144 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE (a.d. 180-476) : PAGANISM AND CHRIS- 
TIANITY; THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS. 

(a.d. 180-476.) 

Reign of Commodus (a.d. 180-192). — Under the wise and able 
administration of " the five good emperors " — Nerva, Trajan, 
Hadrian, and the two Antonines — the Roman empire reached 
"its culmination in power and prosperity; and now, under the 
enfeebling influences of vice and corruption within, and the heavy 

blows of the barbarians 
without, it begins to decline 
rapidly to its fall. 

Commodus, son of Mar- 
cus Aurelius, and the last 
of the Antonines, was a 
most unworthy successor 
of his illustrious father. 
For three years, however, 
surrounded by the able 
generals arid wise counsel- 
lors that the prudent ad- 
ministration of the preced- 
ing emperors had drawn 
to the head of affairs, 
Commodus ruled with 
fairness and lenity, when 
an unsuccessful conspiracy against his life seemed suddenly to 
kindle all the slumbering passions of a Nero. He secured the 
favor of the rabble with the shows of the amphitheatre, and 
purchased the support of the praetorians with bribes and flat- 




COMMODUS (as Hercules). 



''THE BARRACK EMPERORSr 



145 



teries. Thus he was enabled for ten years to retain the throne, 
while perpetrating all manner of cruelties, and staining the impe- 
rial purple with the most detestable debaucheries and crimes. 

Commodus had a passion for gladiatorial combats, and attired 
in a lion's skin, and armed with the club of Hercules, he valiantly 
set upon and slew antagonists arrayed to represent mythological 
monsters, and armed with great sponges for rocks. The Senate, 
so obsequiously servile had that 
body become, conferred upon 
him the title of the Roman Her- 
cules, and also voted him the 
additional surnames of Pius and 
Felix, and even proposed to 
change the name of Rome and 
call it Colonia Commodiana. 

The empire was finally re- 
lieved of the insane tyrant by 
some members of the royal 
household, who anticipated his 
designs against themselves by 
putting him to death. 

" The Barrack Emperors." — 
For nearly a century after the 
death of Commodus (from a.d. 
192 to 284), the emperors were 
elected by the army, and hence the rulers for this period have 
been called " the Barrack Emperors." The character of the 
period is revealed by the fact that of the twenty-five emperors 
who mounted the throne during this time, all except four came to 
their deaths by violence. " Civil war, pestilence, bankruptcy, 
were all brooding over the empire. The soldiers had forgotten 
how to fight, the rulers how to govern." On every side the 
barbarians were breaking into the empire to rob, to murder, and 
to burn. 




PR/CTORIANS. 



146 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

The Public Sale of the Empire (a.d. 193). — The beginning 
of these troublous times was marked by a shameful proceeding on 
the part of the praetorians. Upon the death of Commodus, Per- 
tinax, a distinguished senator, was placed on the throne ; but his 
efforts to enforce discipline among the praetorians aroused their 
anger, and he was slain by them after a short reign of only three 
months. These soldiers then gave out notice that they would sell 
the empire to the highest bidder. It was accordingly set up for 
sale at the praetorian camp, and struck off to Didius Julianus, a 
wealthy senator, who gave ^1000 to each of the 12,000 soldiers 
at this time composing the guard. So the price of the empire 
was about ^12,000,000. 

But these turbulent and insolent soldiers at the capital of the 
empire were not to have things entirely their own way. As soon 
as the news of the disgraceful' transaction reached the legions on 
the frontiers, they rose as a single man in indignant revolt. Each 
of the three armies that held the Euphrates, the Rhine, and the 
Danube, proclaimed its favorite commander emperor. The leader 
of the Danubian troops was Septimius Severus, a man of great 
energy and force of character. He knew that there were other 
competitors for the throne, and that the prize would be his who 
first seized it. Instantly he set his veterans in motion and was 
soon at Rome. The praetorians were no match for the trained 
legionaries of the frontiers, and did not even attempt to defend 
their emperor, who was taken prisoner and put to death after a 
reign of sixty-five days. 

Reign of Septimius Severus (a.d. 193-2 n). — One of the first 
acts of Severus was to organize a new body-guard of 50,000 
legionaries, to take the place of the unworthy praetorians, whom, 
as a punishment for the insult they had offered to the Roman 
state, he disbanded, and banished from the capital, and forbade 
to approach within a hundred miles of its walls. He next crushed 
his two rival competitors, and was then undisputed master of the 
empire. He put to death forty senators for having favored his 
late rivals, and completely destroyed the power of that body. 



REIGN OF CARACALLA. 



147 



Committing to the prefect of the new praetorian guard the man- 
agement of affairs at the capital, Severus passed the greater part 
of his long and prosperous reign upon the frontiers. At one time 
he was chastising the Parthians beyond the Euphrates, and at 
another, pushing back the Caledonian tribes from the Hadrian 
wall in the opposite corner of his dominions. Finally, in Britain, 
in his camp at York, death overtook him. 

Reign of Caracalla (a.d. 211-217). — Severus conferred the 
empire upon his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. Caracalla mur- 
dered his brother, and then ordered Papinian, the celebrated 
jurist, to make a public argument in vindication of the fratricide. 
When that great lawyer refused, saying that " it was easier to com- 
mit such a crime 
than to justify 
it," he put him 
to death. Thou- 
sands fell vic- 
tims to his 
senseless rage. 
Driven by re- 
morse and fear, 
he fled from the 
capital, and 
wandered about 
the most distant 
provinces. A t 
Alexandria, o n 
account of some 

uncomplimentary remarks by the citizens upon his appearance, 
he ordered a general massacre. Finally, after a reign of six years, 
the monster was slain in a remote corner of Syria. 

Caracalla's sole pohtical act of real importance was the be- 
stowal of citizenship upon all the free inhabitants of the empire ; 
and this he did, not to give them a just privilege, but that he might 
collect from them certain special taxes which only Roman citizens 




148 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

had to pay. Before the reign of Caracalla it was only particular 
classes of subjects, or the inhabitants of some particular city or 
province, that, as a mark of special favor, had, from time to time, 
been admitted to the rights of citizenship (see pp. 85-87). By 
this wholesale act of Caracalla, the entire population of the empire 
was made Roman, at least in name and nominal privilege, " The 
city had become the world, or, viewed from the other side, the 
world had become the city " (Merivale). 

Reign of Elagabalus (a.d. 218-222). — Upon the death of 
Caracalla, the purple was assumed by Macrinus, the officer who 
had instigated the murder of the emperor. He remained in the 
East, where the severity of his discipUne caused the soldiers who 
had raised him to power to revolt. The garrison at Emesa set up 
as emperor Elagabalus, a beautiful boy who in that place officiated 
as high priest in the temple of the Syrian sun-god, and whom the 
soldiers were led to believe was the son of the murdered Caracalla. 
The legions that adhered to Macrinus were quickly crushed, and 
he himself was slain. 

So un-Roman had the Romans become that this Oriental 
priest, thus thrust forward by the Syrian legions, was at once 
recognized at Rome by both Senate and people as their emperor. 
He carried to Italy all his Eastern notions and manners, and there 
entered upon a short reign of four years, characterized by all 
those extravagances and cruel follies that are so apt to mark the 
rule of an Asiatic despot. His palace was the scene of the most 
profligate dissipation. He even' created a senate of women 
whose duty it was to attend to matters of dress, calls, amuse- 
ments, and etiquette. 

The praetorians, at length tiring of their priest-emperor, put 
him to death, threw his body into the Tiber, and set up in his 
place Alexander Severus, a kinsman of the murdered prince. 

Reign of Alexander Severus (a.d. 222-235). — Severus restored 
the virtues of the Age of the Antonines. His administration was 
pure and energetic ; but he strove in vain to resist the corrupt 
and downward tendencies of the times. He was assassinated. 



THE THIRTY TYRANTS. 



149 



after a reign of fourteen years, by his seditious soldiers, who were 
angered by his efforts to reduce them to discipUne. They invested 
with the imperial purple an obscure officer named Maximin, a 
Thracian peasant, whose sole recommendation for this dignity was 
his gigantic stature and his great strength of limbs. Rome had 
now sunk to the lowest possible degradation. We may pass rap- 
idly over the next fifty years of the empire. 

The Thirty Tyrants (a.d. 251-268). — Maximin was followed 
swiftly by Gordian, Philip, and Decius, and then came what is 




TRIUMPH OF SAPOR OVER VALERIAN. 

called the " Age of the Thirty Tyrants." The imperial sceptre 
being held by weak emperors, there sprung up, in every part of 
the empire, competitors for the throne — several rivals frequently 
appearing in the field at the same time. The barbarians pressed 
upon all the frontiers, and thrust themselves into all the provinces. 
The empire seemed on the point of falling to pieces.^ But a 

1 It was during this period that the Emperor Valerian (a.d. 253-260), in a 
battle with the Persians before Edessa, in Mesopotamia, was defeated and 
taken prisoner by Sapor, the Persian king. A large rock tablet (see cut 
above), still to be seen near the Persian town of Shiraz, is believed to com- 
memorate the triumph of Sapor over the unfortunate emperor. 



150 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

fortunate succession of five good emperors — Claudius, Aurelian, 
Tacitus, Probus, and Carus (a.d. 268-284) restored for a time 
the ancient boundaries and again forced together into some sort 
of union the fragments of the shattered state. 

The Fall of Palmyra (a.d. 273). — The most noted of the 
usurpers of authority in the provinces during the period of anarchy 
of which we have spoken was Odenatus, Prince of Palmyra, a city 
occupying an oasis in the midst of the Syrian Desert, midway 
between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. In gratitude for 
the aid he had rendered the Romans against the Parthians, the 
Senate had bestowed upon him titles and honors. When the 
empire began to show signs of weakness and approaching disso- 
lution, Odenatus conceived the ambitious project of erecting upon 
its ruins in the East a great Palmyrian kingdom. Upon his death, 
his wife, Zenobia, succeeded to his authority and to his ambitions. 
This famous princess claimed descent from Cleopatra, and it is 
certain that in the charms of personal beauty she was the rival of 
the Egyptian queen. Boldly assuming the title of " Queen of 
the East," she bade defiance to the emperors of Rome. Aurelian 
marched against her, and, defeating her armies in the open field, 
drove them within the walls of Palmyra. After a long siege the 
city was taken, and, in punishment for a second uprising, given to 
the flames. The adviser of the queen, the celebrated rhetorician 
Longinus, was put to death ; but Zenobia was spared, and carried 
a captive to Rome. Aft^r having been led in golden chains in 
the triumphal procession of Aurelian, the queen was given a 
beautiful villa in the vicinity of Tibur, where, surrounded by her 
children, she passed the remainder of her checkered life.^ 

The ruins of Palmyra are among the most interesting remains 
of Roman or Grecian civilization in the East. For a long time 
the site even of the city was lost to the civilized world. The 
Bedouins, however, knew the spot, and told strange stories of a 
ruined city with splendid temples and long colonnades far away 

1 Read Ware's Zenobia and Aurelian. 



REIGN OF DIOCLETIAN. 



151 



in the Syrian Desert. Their accounts awakened an interest in the 
wonderful city, and towards the close of the seventeenth century 
some explorers reached the spot. The sketches they brought 
back of the ruins of the long-lost city produced almost as much 
astonishment as did the discoveries afterwards of Botta and Layard 
at Nineveh. Hadrian, the Antonines, and other Roman emperors 
aided the ambitious Palmyrians in the architectural adornment of 
their capital. The principal features of the ruins are the remains 
of the great Temple of the Sun, and of the colonnade, which was 
almost a mile in length. Many of the marble columns that flanked 
this magnificent avenue are still erect, stretching in a long line 
over the desert. 

Reign of Diocletian (a.d. 284-305). — The reign of Diocletian 
marks an important era in Roman history. Up to this time the 
imperial government had been more 
or less carefully concealed under 
the forms and names of the old 
republic. The government now 
became an unveiled and absolute 
monarchy. Diocletian's r e f o r m s , 
though radical, were salutary, and 
infused such fresh vitality into the 
frame of the dying state as to give 
it a new lease of life for another term 
of nearly two hundred years. 

He determined to divide the nu- 
merous and increasing cares of the 
distracted empire, so that it might 
be ruled from two centres — one in 
the East and the other in the West. 
In pursuance of this plan^ he chose as a colleague a companion 
soldier, Maximian, upon whom he conferred the title of Augustus. 
After a few years, finding the cares of the co-sovereignty still too 
heavy, each sovereign associated with himself an assistant, who 
took the title of Caesar, and was considered the son and heir of the 




DIOCLETIAN. 



152 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

emperor. There were thus two August! and two Caesars. Milan, 
in Italy, became the capital and residence of Maximian ; while Nic- 
omedia, in Asia Minor, became the seat of the court of Diocletian. 
The Augusti took charge of the countries near their respective capi- 
tals, while the younger and more active Caesars were assigned the 
government of the more distant and turbulent provinces. The 
vigorous administration of the government in every quarter of the 
empire was thus secured. The authority of each of the rulers was 
supreme within the territory allotted him ; but all acknowledged 
Diocletian as " the father and head of the state." 

The most serious drawback to the system of government thus 
instituted was the heavy expense incident to the maintenance of 
four courts with their trains of officers and dependents. The taxes 
became unendurable, husbandry ceased, and large masses of the 
population were reduced almost to starvation. 

While the changes made in the government have rendered the 
name of Diocletian noted in the political history of the Roman 
state, the cruel persecutions which he ordered against the Chris- 
tians have made his name in an equal degree prominent in ecclesi- 
astical annals ; for it was during this reign that the tenth — the 
last and severest — of the persecutions of the Church took place. 
By an imperial decree the churches of the Christians were ordered 
to be torn down, and they themselves were outlawed. For ten 
years the fugitives were hunted in forest and cave. The victims 
were burned, were cast to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre, 
were put to death by every torture and in every mode that inge- 
nious cruelty could devise. But nothing could shake the constancy 
of their faith. They courted the death that secured them, as they 
firmly believed, immediate entrance upon an existence of unending 
happiness. The exhibition of devotion and constancy shown by 
the martyrs won multitudes to the persecuted faith. 

It was during this and the various other persecutions that vexed 
the Church in the second and third centuries that the Christians 
sought refuge in the Catacombs, those vast subterranean galleries 
and chambers under the city of Rome. Here the Christians lived 



REIGN OF DIOCLETIAN. 



153 




CHRIST AS THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 
(From the Catacombs.) 



and buried their dead, and on the walls of the chambers sketched 
rude symbols of their hope and faith. It was in the darkness of 
these subterranean abodes that 
Christian art had its beginnings. 

After a prosperous reign of 
twenty years, becoming weary 
of the cares of state, Diocletian 
abdicated the throne, and forced 
or induced his colleague Max- 
imian also to lay down his au- 
thority on the same day. Gale- 
rius and Constantius were, by 
this act, advanced to the purple 
and made Augusti ; and two new 
associates were appointed as 
Caesars. Diocletian, having en- 
joyed the extreme satisfaction of seeing the imperial authority 
quietly and successfully transmitted by his system, without the dic- 
tation of the insolent praetorians or the interference of the turbulent 
legionaries, now retired to his country-seat at Salona, on the eastern 
shore of the Adriatic, and there devoted himself to rural pursuits. 
It is related that, when Maximian wrote him urging him to en- 
deavor, with him, to regain the power they had laid aside, he 
replied : " Were you but to come to Salona and see the vegeta- 
bles which I raise in my garden with my own hands, you would 
no longer talk to me of empire." 

Reign of Constantine the Great (a.d. 306-337) ; the Empire 
becomes Christian. — Galerius and Constantius had reigned to- 
gether only one year, when the latter died at York, in Britain ; 
and his soldiers, disregarding the rule of succession as determined 
by the system of Diocletian, proclaimed his son Constantine em- 
peror. Six competitors for the throne arose in different quarters. 
For eighteen years Constantine fought to gain supremacy. At the 
end of that time every rival was crushed, and he was the sole ruler 
of the Roman world. 



154 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

Constantine was the first Christian emperor. He was con- 
verted to the new rehgion — such is the story - — by seeing in the 
heavens, during one of his campaigns against his rivals, a luminous 
cross with this inscription : " In this sign you will conquer." ^ 
He made the cross the royal standard ; and the Roman legions 
now for the first time marched beneath the emblem of Christi- 
anity.^ 

By a decree issued from Milan, a.d. 313, Christianity was made 
in effect the state religion ; but all other forms of worship were 
tolerated. With the view of harmonizing the different sects that 
had sprung up among the Christians, and to settle the controversy 
between the Arians and the Athanasians respecting the nature of 
Christ, — the former denied his equality with God the Father, — 
Constantine called the first CEcumenical, or General Council of the 
Church, at Nicaea, a town of Asia Minor, a.d. 325. Arianism was 
denounced, and a formula of Christian faith adopted, which is 
known as the Nicene Creed. 

After the recognition of Christianity, the most important act of 
Constantine was the selection of Byzantium, on the Bosphorus, as 
the new capital of the empire. One reason which led the ^em- 
peror to choose this site in preference to Rome was the ungra- 
cious conduct towards him of the inhabitants of the latter city, 
because he had abandoned the worship of the old national deities. 
But there were pohtical reasons for such a change. Through the 
Eastern conquests of Rome, the centre of the population, wealth, 
and culture of the empire had shifted eastward. The West — 
Gaul, Britain, Spain — was rude and barbarous ; the East — 
Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor — was the abode of ancient civilizations 
from which Rome was proud to trace her origin. Constantine 
was not the first to entertain the idea of seeking in the East a 

^ In Latin, In hoc signo vinces. 

2 The new standard was called the Labarum (from the Celtic lavar, mean- 
ing command). It consisted of a banner inscribed with the Greek letters XP, 
the first being a symbol of the Cross, and both forming a monogram of the 
word Christ. The letters are the initials of the Greek Christos. 




2S 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE 
divided into 

PREFECTURES. 

L 



IS 



REIGN OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 155 

new centre for the Roman world. The Italians were inflamed 
against the first Caesar by the report that he intended to restore 
Ilium, the cradle of the Roman race, and make that the capital 
of the empire. 

Constantine organized at Byzantium a new Senate, while that at 
Rome sank to the obscure position of the council of a provincial 
municipahty. Multitudes eagerly thronged to the new capital, 
and almost in a night the little colony grew into an imperial city. 
In honor of the emperor its name was changed to Constantinople, 
the " City of Constantine." Hereafter the eyes of the world were 
directed towards the Bosphorus instead of the Tiber. 

To aid in the administration of the government, Constantine 
laid out the empire into four great divisions, called prefectures 
(see map), which were subdivided into thirteen dioceses, and 
these again into one hundred and sixteen provinces. 

The character of Constantine has been greatly eulogized by 
Christian writers, while Pagan historians very naturally painted it 
in dark colors. It is probable that he embraced Christianity, not 
entirely from conviction, but partly from political motives. As 
the historian Hodgkin puts it, " He was half convinced of the 
truth of Christianity, and wholly convinced of the poHcy of em- 
bracing it." If his course was dictated by considerations of 
policy, events justified his forecast ; for it was the enthusiasm of 
his Christian legions, wrought to an intense fervor by the sight 
of the new emblem, that gave to Constantine his victory over 
his last rival on the field of Adrianople. 

In any event, Constantine's religion was a strange mixture of the 
old and the new faith : on his medals the Christian cross is held 
by the pagan deity Victory. In his domestic relations he was 
tyrannical and cruel. He put to death his son Crispus for no 
better reason, it is believed, than that he was jealous of his rising 
fame ; his wife he ordered to be smothered in the bath ; he killed 
his sister, and drove his mother to death with grief and despair. 
He died in the thirty-first year of his reign, leaving his kingdom 
to his three sons, Constans, Constantius, and Constantine. 



156 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

Reign of Julian the Apostate (a.d. 361-363). — The parcel- 
hng out of the empire by Constantine among his sons led to 
strife and wars, which, at the end of sixteen years, left Constan- 
tius master of the whole. He reigned as sole emperor for about 
eight years, engaged in ceaseless warfare with German tribes in 
the West and with the Persians^ in the East. Constantius was 
followed by his cousin Julian, who was killed while in pursuit of 
the troops of Sapor, king of the Persians (a.d. 363). 

Julian is called the Apostate because he abandoned Christianity 
and labored to restore the Pagan faith. In his persecution of 
the Christians, however, he could not resort to the old means — 
*' the sword, the fire, the lions " ; for, under the softening influ- 
ences of the very faith he sought to extirpate, the Roman world 
had already learned a gentleness and humanity that rendered 
impossible the renewal of the Neronian and Diocletian persecu- 
tions. Julian's weapons were sophistry and ridicule, in the use 
of which he was a master. To degrade the Christians, and place 
them at a disadvantage in controversy, he excluded them from 
the schools of logic and rhetoric. 

Furthermore, to cast discredit upon the predictions of the 
Scriptures, Julian determined to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem, 
which the Christians contended could not be restored because of 
the prophecies against it. He actually began excavations, but his 
workmen were driven in great panic from the spot by terrific 
explosions and bursts of flame. The Christians regarded the 
occurrence as miraculous ; and Julian himself, it is certain, was so 
dismayed by it that he desisted from the undertaking.^ 

1 The great Parthian empire, which had been such a formidable antagonist 
of Rome, was, after an existence of five centuries, overthrown by a revolt of 
the Persians (a.d, 226), and the New Persian or Sassanian monarchy estab- 
lished. This empire lasted till the country was overrun by the Saracens in the 
seventh century A.D. 

2 The explosions which so terrified the workmen of Julian are supposed to 
have been caused by accumulations of gases — similar to those that so fre- 
quently occasion accidents in mines — in the subterranean chambers of the 
Temple foundations. 



MOVEMENTS OF THE BARBARIANS. 157 

It was in vain that the apostate emperor labored to uproot the 
new faith ; for the purity of its teachings, the universal and eternal 
character of its moral precepts, had given it a name to live. 
Equally in vain were his efforts to restore the worship of the old 
Grecian and Roman divinities. Polytheism was a transitional form 
of religious belief which the world had now outgrown : great Pan 
was dead. 

The disabilities under which Julian had placed the Christians 
were removed by his successor Jovian (a.d. 363-364), and the 
Christian worship was re-established. 

Valentinian and Valens. — Upon the death of Jovian, Valen- 
tinian, the commander of the imperial guard, was elected emperor 
by a council of the generals of the army and the ministers of the 
court. He appointed his brother Valens as his associate in office, 
and assigned to him the Eastern provinces, while reserving for 
himself the Western. He set up his own court at Milan, while his 
brother established his residence at Constantinople. 

The Movements of the Barbarians. — The reigns of Valen- 
tinian and Valens were signalized by threatening movements of 
the barbarian tribes, that now, almost at the same moment, began 
to press with redoubled energy against all the barriers of the em- 
pire. The Alemanni (Germans) crossed the Rhine — sometimes 
swarming over the river on the winter's ice — and, before pursuit 
could be made, escaped with their booty into the depths of the 
German forests. The Saxons, pirates of the northern seas, who 
issued from the mouth of the Elbe, ravaged the coasts of Gaul and 
Britain, even pushing their light skiffs far up the rivers and creeks 
of those countries, and carrying spoils from the inland cities. In 
Britain, the Picts broke through the Hadrian Wall, and wrested 
almost the entire island from the hands of the Romans. In Africa, 
the Moorish and other tribes, issuing from the ravines of the Atlas 
Mountains and swarming from the deserts of the south, threatened 
to obliterate the last trace of Roman civilization occupying the 
narrow belt of fertile territory skirting the sea. 

The barbarian tide of invasion seemed thus on the point of 



158 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

overwhelming the empire in the West ; but for twelve years Val- 
entinian defended with signal ability and energy not only his own 
territories, but aided with arms and counsel his weaker brother 
Valens in the defence of his. Upon the death of Valentinian, his 
son Gratian succeeded to his authority (a.d. 375). 

The Goths cross the Danube. — The year following the death 
of Valentinian, an event of the greatest importance occurred in 
the East. The Visigoths (Western Goths) dwelling north of the 
Lower Danube, who had often in hostile bands crossed that river 
to war against the Roman emperors, now appeared as suppliants 
in vast multitudes upon its banks. They said that a terrible race, 
whom they were powerless to withstand, had invaded their terri- 
tories, and spared neither their homes nor their lives. They 
begged permission of the Romans to cross the river and settle in 
Thrace, and promised, should this request be granted, ever to 
remain the grateful and firm allies of the Roman state. 

Valens consented to grant their petition on condition that they 
should surrender their arms, give up their children as hostages, 
and all be baptized in the Christian faith.^ Their terror and de- 
spair led them to assent to these conditions. So the entire nation, 
numbering 1,000,000 souls, — counting men, women, and chil- 
dren, — were allowed to cross the river. Several days and nights 
were consumed in the transport of the vast multitudes. The 
writers of the times liken the passage to that of the Hellespont 
by the hosts of Xerxes. 

The enemy that had so terrified the Goths were the Huns, a 
monstrous race of fierce nomadic horsemen, that two centuries 
and more before the Christian era were roving the deserts north of 
the Great Wall of China.^ Migrating from that region, they moved 
slowly to the West, across the great plains of Central Asia, and, 

^ It is somewhat doubtful whether this last condition was really a part of 
the agreement. 

2 A great rampart extending for about fifteen hundred miles along the 
northern frontier of China. It was built by the Chinese towards the end of the 
third century B.C. as a barrier against the forays of the Huns. 



THE GOTHS CROSS THE DANUBE. 159 

after wandering several centuries, appeared in Europe. They 
belonged to a different race (the Turanian) from all the other 
European tribes with which we have been so far concerned. 
Their features were hideous, their noses being flattened, and their 
cheeks gashed, to render their appearance more frightful as well 
as to prevent the growth of a beard. Even the barbarous Goths 
called them "barbarians." 

Scarcely had the fugitive Visigoths been received within the 
limits of the empire before a large company of their kinsmen, the 
Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths), also driven from their homes by 
the same terrible Huns, crowded to the banks of the Danube, and 
pleaded that they might be allowed, as their countrymen had 
been, to place the river between themselves and their dreaded 
enemies. But Valens, becoming alarmed at the presence of so 
many barbarians within his dominions, refused their request ; 
whereupon they, dreading the fierce and implacable foe behind 
more than the wrath of the Roman emperor in front, crossed the 
river with arms in their hands. 

It now came to light that the cupidity of the Roman officials 
had prevented the carrying out of the stipulations of the agreement 
between the emperor and the Visigoths respecting the relinquish- 
ment of their arms. The barbarians had bribed those intrusted 
with the duty of transporting them across the river, and purchased 
the privilege of retaining their weapons. The persons, too, 
detailed to provide the multitude with food till they could be 
assigned lands, traded on the hunger of their wards, and doled 
out the vilest provisions at the most extortionate prices. (We 
seem here to be listening to a recital of the unscrupulous conduct 
of Indian agents of our own frontiers.) 

As was natural, the injured nation rose in indignant revolt. 
Joining their kinsmen that were just now forcing the passage of 
the Danube, they commenced, under the lead of the great Friti- 
gern, to overrun and ravage the Danubian provinces. Valens 
despatched swift messengers to Gratian in the West, asking for 
assistance against the foe he had so unfortunately admitted within 



160 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

the limits of the empire. Meanwhile, he rallied all his forces, 
and, without awaiting the arrival of the Western legions, risked a 
battle with the barbarians near Adrianople. The Roman army 
was almost annihilated. Valens himself, being wounded, sought ,, 
refuge in the cabin of a peasant ; but the building was fired by 
the savages, and the emperor was burned alive (a.d. 378). The 
Goths now rapidly overran Thrace, Macedon, and Thessaly, 
ravaging the country to the very walls of Constantinople. 

Theodosius the Great (a.d. 379-395). — Gratian was hurrying 
to the help of his colleague Valens, when news of his defeat and 
death at the hands of the barbarians was brought to him, and he 
at once appointed as his associate Theodosius, known afterwards 
as the Great, and intrusted him with the government of the 
Eastern provinces. Theodosius, by wise and vigorous measures, 
quickly reduced the Goths to submission. Vast multitudes of the 
Visigoths were settled upon the waste lands of Thrace, while the 
Ostrogoths were scattered in various colonies in different regions 
of Asia Minor. The Goths became allies of the Emperor of the 
East, and more than 40,000 of these warlike barbarians, who 
were destined to be the subverters of the empire, were enlisted 
in the imperial legions. 

While Theodosius was thus composing the East, the West, 
through the jealous rivalries of different competitors for the con- 
trol of the government, had fallen into great disorder. Theodosius 
twice interposed to right affairs, and then took the government 
into his own hands. For four months he ruled as sole monarch 
of the empire. 

Final Division of the Empire (a.d. 395). — The Roman world 
was now united for the last time under a single master. Just 
before his death, Theodosius divided the empire between his two 
sons, Arcadius and Honorius, assigning the former, who was only 
eighteen years of age, the government of the East, and giving the 
latter, a mere child of eleven, the sovereignty of the West. This 
was the final partition of the Roman empire — the issue of that 
growing tendency, which we have observed in its immoderately 



THE EASTERN EMPIRE. 161 

extended dominions, to break apart. The separate histories of 
the East and the West now begin. 

The Eastern Empire. — The story of the fortunes of the Em- 
pire in the East need not detain us long at this point of our 
history. This monarchy lasted over a thousand years — from 
the accession to power of Arcadius, a.d. 395, to the capture of 
Constantinople by the Turks, a.d. 1453. It will thus be seen 
that the greater part of its history belongs to the mediaeval period. 
Up to the time of the overthrow of the Empire in the West, the 
sovereigns of the East were engaged almost incessantly in sup- 
pressing uprisings of their Gothic allies or mercenaries, or in 
repelling invasions of the Huns and the Vandals. Frequently dur- 
ing this period, in order to save their own territories, the Eastern 
emperors, by dishonorable inducements, persuaded the barbarians 
to direct their ravaging expeditions against the provinces of the 
West. ' 

Last Days of the Empire in the West. 

First Invasion of Italy by Alaric. — Only a few years had 
elapsed after the death of the great Theodosius, before the bar- 
barians were trooping in vast hordes through all the regions of the 
West. First, from Thrace and Moesia came the Visigoths, led by 
the great Alaric. They poured through the Pass of Thermopylae, 
and devastated almost the entire peninsula of Greece ; but, being 
driven from that country by Stilicho, the renowned Vandal gen- 
eral ^ of Honorius, they crossed the Julian Alps, and spread terror 
throughout all Italy. Stilicho followed the barbarians cautiously, 
and, attacking them at a favorable moment, inflicted a terrible and 
double defeat upon them at Pollentia and Verona (a.d. 402-403). 
The captured camp was found filled with the spoils of Thebes, 
Corinth, and Sparta. Gathering the remnants of his shattered 

^ Hodgkin makes the following suggestive comparison : " Stilicho [and 
others like him] were the prototypes of the German and English officers who 
in our own day have reorganized the armies or commanded the fleets of the 
Sultan, and led the expeditions of the Khedive." 



162 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 

army, Alaric forced his way with difficulty through the defiles of 
the Alps, and escaped. 

Last Triumph at Rome (a.d. 404). — A terrible danger had 
been averted. All Italy burst forth in expressions of gratitude and 
joy. The days of the Cimbri and Teutones were recalled, and the 
name of StiUcho was pronounced with that of Marius. A mag- 
nificent triumph at Rome celebrated the victory and the deliver- 
ance. The youthful Honorius and his faithful general Stilicho rode 
side by side in the imperial chariot. It was the last triumph that 
Rome ever saw. Three hundred times — such is asserted to be 
the number — the Imperial City had witnessed the triumphal pro- 
cession of her victorious generals, celebrating conquests in all 
quarters of the world. 

Last Gladiatorial Combat of the Amphitheatre. — The same 
year that marks the last military triumph at Rome also signalizes 
the last gladiatorial combat in the Roman amphitheatre. It is to 
Christianity that the credit of the suppression of the inhuman 
exhibitions of the amphitheatre is entirely, or almost entirely, due. 
The Pagan philosophers usually regarded them with indifference, 
often with favor. Thus Pliny commends a friend for giving a glad- 
iatorial entertainment at the funeral of his wife. And when the 
Pagan moralists did condemn the spectacles, it was rather for other 
reasons than that they regarded them as inhuman and absolutely 
contrary to the rules of ethics. They were defended on the ground 
that they fostered a martial spirit among the people and inured 
the soldier to the sights of the battle-field. Hence gladiatorial 
games were actually exhibited to the legions before they set out 
on their campaigns. Indeed, all classes appear to have viewed 
the matter in much the same light, and with exactly the same 
absence of moral disapprobation, that we ourselves regard the 
slaughter of animals for food. 

But the Christian fathers denounced the combats as absolutely 
immoral, and labored in every possible way to create a public 
opinion against them. The members of their own body who 
attended the spectacles were excommunicated. At length, in 



THE INVASION OF ITALY. 163 

A.D. 325, the first imperial edict against them was issued by 
Constantine. This decree appears to have been very little re- 
garded ; nevertheless, from this time forward the exhibitions were 
under something of a ban, until their final abohtion was brought 
about by an incident of the games that closed the triumph 
of Honorius. In the midst of the exhibition a Christian monk, 
named Telemachus, descending into the arena, rushed between 
the combatants, but was instantly killed by a shower of missiles 
thrown by the people, who were angered by this interruption of 
their sports. But the people soon repented of their act ; and 
Honorius himself, who was present, was moved by the scene. 
Christianity had awakened the conscience and touched the heart 
of Rome. The martyrdom of the monk led to an imperial edict 
"which abolished forever the human sacrifices of the amphi- 
theatre." 

Invasion of Italy by Various German Tribes. — While Italy 
was celebrating her triumph over the Goths, another and more 
formidable invasion was preparing in the north. The tribes be- 
yond the Rhine — the Vandals, the Suevi, the Burgundians, and 
other peoples — driven onward by some unknown cause, poured 
in impetuous streams from the forests and morasses of Germany, 
and bursting the barriers of the Alps, overspread the devoted 
plains of Italy. The alarm caused by them among the Italians 
was even greater than that inspired by the Gothic invasion ; for 
Alaric was a Christian, while Radagaisus, the leader of the new 
hordes, was a superstitious savage, who paid worship to gods that 
required the bloody sacrifice of captive enemies. 

By such efforts as Rome put forth in the younger and more 
vigorous days of the republic, when Hannibal was at her gates, an 
army was now equipped and placed under the command of Stilicho. 
Meanwhile the barbarians had advanced as far as Florence, and 
were now besieging that place. Stilicho here surrounded the vast 
host — variously estimated from 200,000 to 400,000 men — and 
starved them into a surrender. Their chief, Radagaisus, was put 



164 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 

to death, and great numbers of the barbarians that the sword and 
famine had spared were sold as slaves (a.d. 406) . 

The Ransom of Home (a.d. 409). — Shortly after the victory 
of Stilicho over the German barbarians, he came under the suspi- 
cion of the weak and jealous Honorius, and was executed. Thus 
fell the great general whose sword and counsel had twice saved 
Rome from the barbarians, and who might again have averted 
similar dangers that were now at hand. Listening to the rash 
counsels of his unworthy advisers, Honorius provoked to revolt 
the 30,000 Gothic mercenaries in the Roman legions by a mas- 
sacre of their wives and children, who were held as hostages in 
the different cities of Italy. The Goths beyond the Alps joined 
with their kinsmen to avenge the perfidious act. Alaric again 
crossed the mountains, and pillaging the cities in his way, led his 
hosts to the very gates of Rome. Not since the time of the 
dread Hannibal (see page 65) — more than six hundred years 
before — had Rome been insulted by the presence of a foreign 
foe beneath her walls. 

The barbarians by their vast number were enabled to completely 
surround the city, and thus cut it off from its supplies of food. 
Famine soon forced the Romans to sue for terms of surrender. 
The ambassadors of the Senate, when they came before Alaric, 
began, in lofty and unbecoming language, to warn him not to 
render the Romans desperate by hard or dishonorable terms : 
their fury when driven to despair, they represented, was terrible, 
and their number enormous. " The thicker the grass, the easier 
to mow it," was Alaric's derisive reply. The barbarian chieftain 
at length named the ransom that he would accept and spare the 
city : " All the gold and silver in the city, whether it were the 
property of individuals or of the state ; all the rich and precious 
movables ; and all the slaves that could prove their title to the 
name of barbarian." The amazed commissioners, in deprecating 
tones, asked, " If such, O king, are your demands, what do you 
intend to leave us?" "Your lives," responded the conqueror. 

The ransom was afterwards considerably modified and reduced. 



THE SACKING OF ROME. 165 

It was fixed at *' 5000 pounds of gold, 30,000 of silver, 4000 
silken robes, 3000 pieces of scarlet cloth, and 3000 pounds of 
pepper." The last-named article was much used in Roman cook- 
ery, and was very expensive, being imported from India. Meri- 
. vale, in contrasting the condition of Rome at this time with her 
ancient wealth and grandeur, estimates that the gilding of the roof 
of the Capitoline temple far exceeded the entire ransom, and that 
it was four hundred times less than that (five milliards of francs) 
demanded of France by the Prussians in 187 1. Small as it com- 
paratively was, the Romans were able to raise it only by the most 
extraordinary measures. The images of the gods were first 
stripped of their ornaments of gold and precious stones, and 
finally the statues themselves were melted down. 

Sack of Rome by Alaric (a.d. 410). — Upon retiring from 
Rome, Alaric established his camp in Etruria. Here he was 
joined by great numbers of fugitive slaves, and by fresh accessions 
of barbarians from beyond the xA.lps. The Gallic king now de- 
manded for his followers lands of Honorius, who, with his court, 
was safe behind the marshes of Ravenna ; but the emperor treated 
all the proposals of the barbarian with foolish insolence. Rome 
paid the penalty. Alaric turned upon the devoted city, deter- 
mined upon its sack and plunder. The barbarians broke into 
the capital by night, " and the inhabitants were awakened by the 
tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet." Precisely eight hun- 
dred years had passed since its sack by the Gauls. During that 
time the Imperial City had carried its victorious standards over 
three continents, and had gathered within the temples of its gods 
and the palaces of its nobles the plunder of the world. Now 
it was given over for a spoil to the fierce tribes from beyond the 
Danube. 

Alaric commanded his soldiers to respect the lives of the peo- 
ple, and to leave untouched the treasures of the Christian temples ; 
but the wealth of the citizens he encouraged them to make their 
own. For six days and nights the rough barbarians trooped 
through the streets of the city on their mission of pillage. Their 



166 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 

wagons were heaped with the costly furniture, the rich plate, and 
the silken garments stripped from the palaces of the wealthy 
patricians and the temples of the gods. Amidst the license of 
the sack, the barbarian instincts of the robbers broke loose from 
all restraint, and the city was everywhere wet with blood, while 
the nights were lighted with burning buildings. 

Effects of the Disaster upon Paganism. — The overwhelming 
disaster that had befallen the Imperial City produced a profound 
impression upon both Pagans and Christians throughout the Ro- 
man world. The former asserted that these unutterable calamities 
had fallen upon the Roman state because of the abandonment by 
the people of the worship of the gods of their forefathers, under 
whose protection and favor Rome had become the mistress of the 
world. The Christians, on the other hand, saw in the fall of 
the Eternal City the fulfilment of the prophecies against the 
Babylon of the Apocalypse. The latter interpretation of the 
appalling calamity gained credit amidst the panic and despair of 
the times. The temples of the once popular deities were deserted 
by their worshippers, who had lost faith in gods that could neither 
save themselves nor protect their shrines from spoliation. " Hence- 
forth," says Merivale, "the power of paganism was entirely broken, 
and the indications which occasionally meet us of its continued 
existence are rare and trifling. Christianity stepped into its de- 
serted inheritance. The Christians occupied the temples, trans- 
forming them into churches." 

The Death of Alaric. — After withdrawing his warriors from 
Rome, Alaric led them southward. As they moved slowly on, 
they piled still higher the wagons of their long trains with the rich 
spoils of the cities and villas of Campania and other districts of 
Southern Italy. In the villas of the Roman nobles the rough bar- 
barians spread rare banquets from the stores of their well-filled 
cellars, and drank from jewelled cups the famed Falernian wine. 

Alaric led his soldiers to the extreme southern point of Italy, 
intending to cross the Straits of Messina into Sicily, and, after 
subduing that island, to carry his conquests into the provinces of 



SEIZURE OF THE WESTERN PROVINCES. 167 

Africa. His designs were frustrated by his death, which occurred 
A.D. 412. With rehgious care his followers secured the body of 
their hero against molestation by his enemies. The little river 
Busentinus, in Northern Bruttium, was turned from its course with 
great labor, and in the bed of the stream was constructed a tomb, 
in which was placed the body of the king, with his jewels and tro- 
phies. The river was then restored to its old channel, and, that 
the exact spot might never be known, the prisoners who had been 
forced to do the work were all put to death. 

The Barbarians seize the Western Provinces. — We must now 
turn our eyes from Rome and Italy to observe the movement of 
events in the provinces. In his efforts to defend Italy, Stilicho 
had withdrawn the last legion from Britain, and had drained 
the camps and fortresses of Gaul. The Hadrian Wall was left 
unmanned ; the passages of the Rhine were left unguarded ; and 
the agitated multitudes of barbarians beyond these defences were 
free to pour their innumerable hosts into all the fair provinces of 
the empire. Hordes of Suevi, Alani, Vandals, and Burgundians 
overspread all the plains and valleys of Gaul. The Vandals 
pushed on into the South of Spain, and there occupied a large 
tract of country, which, in its present name of Andalusia, preserves 
the memory of its barbarian settlers. From these regions they 
crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, overran the Roman provinces of 
Northern Africa, captured Carthage (a.d. 439), and made that 
city the seat of the dread empire of the Vandals. The Goths, 
with Italy pillaged, recrossed the Alps, and establishing their 
camps in the south of Gaul and the north of Spain, set up in 
those regions what is known as the Kingdom of the Visigoths. 

In Britain, upon the withdrawal of the Roman legions, the Picts 
breaking over the wall of Hadrian, descended upon and pillaged 
the cities of the South. The half- Romanized and effeminate pro- 
vincials — no match for their hardy kinsmen who had never bowed 
their necks to the yoke of Rome — were driven to despair by the 
ravages of their relentless enemies, and, in their helplessness, in- 
vited to their aid the Angles and Saxons from the shores of the 



168 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 

North Sea. These people came in their rude boats, drove back 
the invaders, and, being pleased with the soil and climate of the 
island, took possession of the country for themselves, and became 
the ancestors of the English people. 

Invasion of the Huns: Battle of Chalons (a.d. 451). — The 
barbarians that were thus overrunning and parcelling out the inher- 
itance of the dying empire were now, in turn, pressed upon and 
terrified by a foe more hideous and dreadful in their eyes than 
were they in the sight of the peoples among whom they had thrust 
themselves. These were the non-Aryan Huns, of whom we have 
already caught a glimpse as they drove the panic-stricken Goths 
across the Danube. At this time their leader was Attila, whom the 
affrighted inhabitants of Europe called the "Scourge of God." 
It was declared that the grass never grew again where once the 
hoof of Attila's horse had trod. 

Attila defeated the armies of the Eastern emperor, and exacted 
tribute from the court of Constantinople. Finally he turned west- 
ward, and, at the head of a host numbering, it is asserted, 
700,000 warriors, crossed the Rhine into Gaul, purposing first to 
ravage that province, and then to traverse Italy with fire and 
sword, in order to destroy the last vestige of the Roman power. 

The Romans and their Gothic conquerors laid aside their ani- 
mosities, and made common cause against a common enemy. 
The Visigoths were ralHed by their king, Theodoric ; the Itahans, 
the Franks, the Burgundians, flocked to the standard of the Roman 
general Aetius. Attila drew up his mighty hosts upon the plain 
of Chalons, in the north of Gaul, and there awaited the onset of 
the Romans and their allies. The conflict was long and terrible. 
Theodoric was slain ; but at last fortune turned against the bar- 
barians. The loss of the Huns is variously estimated at from 
100,000 to 300,000 warriors. Attila succeeded in escaping from 
the field, and retreated with his shattered hosts across the Rhine 
(A.D. 451). 

This great victory is placed among the significant events of 
jiistory; for it decided that the Christian Germanic races, and 



DEATH OF ATT/LA. 169 

not the pagan Scythic Huns, should inherit the dominions of the 
expiring Roman Empire, and control the destinies of Europe. 

The Death of Attila. — The year after his defeat at Chalons, 
Attila again crossed the Alps, and burned or plundered all the 
important cities of Northern Italy. The Veneti fled for safety to 
the morasses at the head of the Adriatic (a.d. 452). Upon the 
islets where they built their rude dwellings, there grew up in time 
the city of Venice, the " eldest daughter of the Roman Empire," 
the " Carthage of the Middle Ages." 

The conqueror threatened Rome ; but Leo the Great, bishop 
of the capital, went with an embassy to the camp of Attila, and 
pleaded for the city. He recalled to the mind of Attila the 
fact that death had overtaken the impious Alaric soon after he had 
given the Imperial City to be sacked, and warned him not to call 
down upon himself the like judgment of heaven. To these ad- 
monitions of the Christian bishop was added the persuasion of 
a golden bribe from the Emperor Valentinian ; and Attila was 
induced to spare Southern Italy, and to lead his warriors back 
beyond the Alps. Shortly after he had crossed the Danube, he 
died suddenly in his camp, and like Alaric was buried secretly, — 
and " no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." His fol- 
lowers gradually withdrew from Europe into the wilds of their 
native Scythia, or were absorbed by the peoples they had con- 
quered.^ 

1 There is much uncertainty respecting the part which the warriors of Attila 
may have taken in the formation of the later Hungarian state in Europe. 
That appears to have owed its origin to another invading band of the same 
people, that entered Europe several centuries later. " It is at least certain," 
says Creasy, " that the Magyars of Arpad, who are the immediate ancestors of 
the bulk of the modern Hungarians, and who conquered the country which 
bears the name of Hungary in a.d, 889, were of the same stock of mankind as 
the Huns of Attila, if they did not belong to the same subdivision of that stock. 
Nor is there any improbal)ility in the tradition that after Attila's death many 
of his warriors remained in Hungary, and that their descendants afterwards 
joined the Huns of Arpad in their career of conquest. It is certain that Attila 
made Hungary the seat of his empire." — Decisive Batiies, p. 157. 



170 LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 

Sack of Rome by the Vandals (a.d. 455). — Rome had been 
saved a visitation from the spoiler of the North, but a new de- 
struction was about to burst upon it by way of the sea from the 
South. Africa sent out another enemy whose greed for plunder 
proved more fatal to Rome than the eternal hate of Hannibal. The 
kings of the Vandal Empire in Northern Africa had acquired as 
perfect a supremacy in the Western Mediterranean as Carthage 
ever enjoyed in the days of her commercial pride. Vandal cor- 
sairs swept the seas and harassed the coasts of Sicily and Italy, 
and even plundered the maritime towns of the Eastern provinces. 
In the year 455 a Vandal fleet, led by the dread Geiseric (Gen- 
seric), sailed up the Tiber. 

These barbarians had been exhorted by the Roman empress 
Eudoxia to come and avenge the murder of her husband Valen- 
tinian and her forced alliance with a senator named Maximus, 
who, being invested with the purple, had forced the widowed 
queen to accept the hand stained, as many believed, with the 
blood of her own husband. 

Panic seized the people ; for the name Vandal was pronounced 
with terror throughout the world. Again the great Leo, who had 
once before saved his flock from the fury of an Attila, went forth 
to intercede in the name of Christ for the Imperial City. Geiseric 
granted to the pious bishop the lives of the citizens, but said that 
the plunder of the capital belonged to his warriors. For fourteen 
days and nights the city was given over to the ruthless barbarians. 
The ships of the Vandals, which almost hid with their number the 
waters of the Tiber, were piled, as had been the wagons of the 
Goths before them, with the rich and weighty spoils of the capital. 
Palaces were stripped of their ornaments and furniture, and the 
walls of the temples denuded of their statues and of the trophies 
of a hundred Roman victories. From the Capitoline sanctuary 
were borne off the golden candlestick and other sacred articles 
that Titus had stolen from the Temple at Jerusalem. 

The greed of the barbarians was sated at last, and they 
were ready to withdraw. The Vandal fleet sailed for Car- 



FALL OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 171 

thage/ bearing, besides the plunder of the city, more than 30,000 
of the inhabitants as slaves. Carthage, through her own barba- 
rian conquerors, was at last avenged upon her hated rival. The 
mournful presentiment of Scipio had fallen true (see p. 75), The 
cruel fate of Carthage might have been read again in the pillaged 
city that the Vandals left behind them. 

Fall of the Roman Empire in the West (a.d. 476). — Only the 
shadow of the Empire in the West now remained. All the prov- 
inces — Illyricum, Gaul, Britain, Spain, and Africa — were in the 
hands of the Goths, the Vandals, the Franks, the Burgundians, the 
Angles and Saxons, and various other intruding tribes. Italy, as 
well as Rome herself, had become again and again the spoil of the 
insatiable barbarians. The story of the twenty years following the 
sack of the capital by Geiseric affords only a repetition of the 
events we have been narrating. During these years several pup- 
pet emperors were set up by the different leaders of the invading 
tribes. A final seditious movement placed upon the shadow- 
throne a child of six years, son of Orestes, the leading spirit of the 
new revolution. 

By what has been called a freak of fortune, this boy-sovereign 
bore the name of Romulus iVugustus, thus uniting in the name of 
the last Roman Emperor of the West the names of the founder of 
Rome and of the establisher of the empire. Not so much on ac- 
count of his youth as from contempt excited by the imperial farce 
he was forced to play, this emperor became known as Augustulus 
— "the httle Augustus." He reigned only one year, when Odo- 
vaker (Odoacer), the leader of the Heruli — a small but formid- 
able German tribe, all of whom claimed royal descent — having 
demanded one-third of the lands of Italy, to divide among his fol- 
lowers for services rendered the empire, and having been refused, 

1 The fleet was overtaken by a storm and suffered some damage, but the 
most precious of the relics it bore escaped harm. " The golden candlestick 
reached the African capital, was recovered a century later, and lodged in Con- 
stantinople by Justinian, and by him replaced, from superstitious motives, in 
Jerusalem. From that time its history is lost." — Merivale. 



172 



LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 



put Orestes to death, and dethroned the child-emperor. His Hfe 
was spared, and his friends were permitted to take him into 
retirement in the villa of LucuUus, in Campania. 

The Roman Senate now sent an embassy to Constantinople, 
with the royal vestments and the insignia of the imperial office, to 
represent to the Emperor Zeno that the West was willing to give 
up its claims to an emperor of its own, and to request that the 
German chief, with the title of " Patrician," might rule Italy as 
his viceroy. This was granted ; and Italy now became in effect 
a province of the Empire in the East (a.d. 476). The Roman 
Empire in the West had come to an end, after an existence from 
the founding of Rome of 1229 years. 



i.liiii* iBiiiiilliliillil 



unrrrmiTTrn 






SARCOPHAGUS OF CORNELIUS SCIPIO BARBATUS, 
(Consul 298 B.C.) 



kOMAN EMPERORS. 



173 



ROMAN EMPERORS FROM COMMODUS TO ROMULUS 

AUGUSTUS. 



(a.d. 180-476.) 



A.D. 

Commodus 180-192 

Pertinax 193 

Didius Julianus 193 

Septimius Severus .... 193-21 1 

^ Caracalla 211-217 

i Geta 21 1-2 1 2 

Macrinus 217-218 

Elagabalus 218-222 

Alexander Severus .... 222-235 

Maximin 235-238 

Gordian III 238-244 

Philip 244-249 

Decius 249-251 

Period of the Thirty Tyrants 251-268 

Claudius 268-270 

Aurelian 270-275 

Tacitus 275-276 

Probus 276-282 

Carus 282-283 

( Carinus 283-284 

\ Numerian 283-284 



A.D. 

( Diocletian 284-305 

1 Maximian 286-305 

^ Constantius 1 305-306 

^ Galerius 305-3" 

Constantine the Great . . . 306-337 
Reigns as sole ruler . . . 323-337 

Constantine II 337-34^ 

Constans 1 337-350 

Constantius II 337-36i 

Reigns as sole ruler . . . 350-361 
Julian the Apostate . . . 361-363 

Jovian 363-364 

j Valentinian 1 364-375 

( Valens (in the East) . . 364-378 

Gratian 375-383 

Maximus 383-388 

Valentinian II 375-392 

Eugenius 392-394 

Theodosius the Great . . . 379-395 
Reigns as sole emperor . 394-395 



FINAL PARTITION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

(A.I). 395-) 



EMPERORS IN THE EAST. 
(From A.D. 395 to Fall of Rome.) 

A.D. 

Arcadius 395-408 

Theodosius II 40S-450 

Marcian 450-457 

Leo 1 457-474 

Zeno 474-491 



EMPERORS IN THE WEST. 

A.D. 

Honorius 395-423 

Valentinian III 425-455 

Maximus 455 

Avitus 455-456 

Count Ricimer creates and 

deposes emperors . . , 456-472 
Romulus Augustus .... 475-476 



174 ARCHITECTURE, 



CHAPTER X. 

ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW, AND SOCIAL LIFE 
AMONG THE ROMANS. 

Architecture. 

Introductory. — We purpose in the present section to say 
something further respecting the great architectural works of the 
ancient Romans, any extended description of which before this 
time would have broken the continuity of our narrative. An 
examination of these as they stood before time and violence laid 
defacing hands upon them, or as they appear now after the decay 
and spohation of many centuries, will tend to render more real, 
and to impress more deeply upon our minds, the story we have 
been following (see Frontispiece) . 

Greek Origin of Roman Architecture : the Arch. — The 
architecture of the Romans was, in the main, an imitation of 
Greek models. But the Romans were not mere servile imitators. 
They not only modified the architectural forms they borrowed, 
but they gave their structures a distinct character by the prominent 
use of the arch, which the Greek and Oriental builders seldom 
employed, though they were acquainted with its properties. By 
means of it the Roman builders vaulted the roofs of the largest 
buildings, carried stupendous aqueducts across the deepest val- 
leys, and spanned the broadest streams with bridges that have 
resisted all the assaults of time and flood to the present day. 

Sacred Edifices. — The temples of the Romans were in general 
so like those of the Greeks that we need not here take time and 
space to enter into a particular description of them.^ Mention, 

1 The most celebrated of Roman temples was the Capitoline, which crowned 
the Capitoline Hill at Rome. At the close of the Punic Wars the roof of the 
central portion of the building was covered with gilded tiles at an almost 
fabulous expense, — $20,000,000 according to some authorities. The brazen 



THEATRES AND AMPHITHEATRES. 175 

however, should be made of their circular vaulted temples, as this 
was a style of building almost exclusively Italian. The best repre- 
sentative of this style of sacred edifices is the Pantheon ^ at Rome, 
which has come down to our own times in a state of wonderful 
preservation. This structure is about 140 feet in diameter. The 
immense stone dome which vaults the building is one of the 
boldest pieces of masonry executed by the master-builders of the 
world. The temple is fronted by a splendid portico, forming a 
thick grove of columns, through which entrance is given to the 
shrine. The doors were of bronze, and still remain in place. It 
was built about 25 B.C. by the consul M. Agrippa, son-in-law of 
Augustus, and was consecrated to Jupiter the Avenger. The 
edifice is now a Christian sanctuary, being known as The Church 
of All the Saints. 

Circuses, Theatres, and Amphitheatres. — The circuses of the 
Romans were what we should call race-courses. There were 
several at Rome, the most celebrated being the Circus Maximus, 
which was first laid out in the time of the Tarquins, and after- 
wards enlarged as the population of the capital increased, until 
finally, at the time of Constantine, which emperor made the last 
extension, it was capable of holding probably two or three hun- 
dred thousand spectators.- It was oblong in shape, being about 
1800 feet long and 600 feet wide. From the course, or track, the 
seats rose in tiers the same as in a theatre. From the uppermost 
row of seats rose high buildings with several stories of balconies 
like the boxes overhanging the modern stage. The sloping sides 
of the valley were taken advantage of in the formation of the 
seats. The only remaining trace of this stupendous structure is 
the terraced appearance of the low encircling hills. 

It 
doors of the temple were also adorned with solid plates of gold. The interior 
decorations were of marble and silver. The walls were crowded with the 
trophies of war. We have already learned of the fate of the treasures of the 
sanctuary at the hands of the barbarian Goths and Vandals (see pp. 165, 170). 

1 From two Greek words, /<j«, all, and iheion, divine (or theos, a god). 

2 Authorities differ, ranging from 150,000 to 380,000. Pliny says 250,000. 



176 



AR CHITE CTURE. 




RUINS OF THEATRE AT ASPENDOS. 



The Romans borrowed the plan of their theatres from the 
Greeks. The form was that of a semicircle, with rising tiers of 

seats. The Greeks, in the 
construction of their thea- 
tres, usually took advan- 
tage of some hillside ; but 
the Romans, who seemed 
to scorn the idea of saving 
labor, or of asking nature 
to lend aid in any work, 
when they set themselves 
to theatre-building, erected 
the entire structure upon level ground, raising a great support- 
ing wall or framework in place of the hill with its favoring 
slopes. All of the theatres built at Rome previous to the year 
55 B.C. were of wood. In that year Pompey the Great returned 
from his campaigns in the East, where he had seen the Greek 
theatre at Mitylene, and immediately set to work to erect, in 
imitation of it, a stone theatre at Rome that should seat 40,000 
spectators. This structure and two others, one of which was 
built by Augustus, were the only theatres at the capital. 

The first Roman amphitheatre seems to have been the out- 
growth of the rivalry between Pompey and Csesar. The liberality 
of the former in the erection of his stone theatre had so won for 
him the affections of the people that the latter saw he must do 
something to surpass his rival, or see himself entirely distanced in 
the race for popular favor. Csesar was at this time away in Gaul, 
whence he sent immense sums of money, gained by his successful 
wars, to his friend Curio, then tribune at Rome, who was enjoined 
to erect, with the means thus put into his hands, a structure that 
should cast Pompey's into the shade. Pliny tells us that Curio 
built two wooden theatres side by side, in which two separate 
audiences might be entertained at the same time. With things 
thus arranged, and with the people in good-humor from the 
farcical representations that had been given, all was ready for the 



THE COLOSSEUM. 



177 



master-stroke that was to win the applause of the fickle multitude. 
At a given signal, one of the theatres, which had been constructed 
so as to admit of such a movement, was swung around and 
brought face to face with the other, in such a way as to form a 
vast amphitheatre, where, from a central space called the arena 
and designed for the exhibitions, the seats rose in receding tiers 
on every side. 

The first stone amphitheatre was erected during the reign of 
Augustus. But the one that pushed all other edifices of this kind 




THE COLOSSEUM. (From a Photograph.) 

far into the background, and in some respects surpasses any 
other monument ever reared by man, was the structure com- 
menced by Flavins Vespasian, and often called, after him, the 
Flavian Amphitheatre, but better known as the Colosseum (see p. 
133). The edifice is 574 feet in its greatest diameter, and was 
capable of seating 87,000 spectators. The encircling wall rises in 
four stories to the height of 156 feet. Within, the seats rose from 



1 78 AR CHI TE C T URE. 

the arena in retreating steps to the magnificent portico that 
crowned the upper circle. Beneath the arena and seats were 
large chambers designed as dens for the wild animals needed in 
the shows. Sockets in the upper stone-work held pillars to which 
were fastened the ropes by means of which an immense awning 
was stretched over the heads of the spectators to keep out the 
sun and rain. Fountain jets filled the air with perfumed spray; 
pieces of statuary, placed at advantageous points, relieved the 
monotony of the endless circle of seats ; and bright-colored silken 
decorations lent a festive appearance to the vast auditorium. 

The enormous proportions of the Colosseum have enabled it to 
resist all the agencies of destruction which have been at work 
upon it through so many centuries. The crowning colonnade was 
destroyed by fire ; the immense walls were quarried by the 
builders of Rome for a thousand years, and from them was taken 
material for the building of a multitude of castles, towers, and 
palaces, erected in the capital during the Middle Ages ; and for 
seventeen hundred years the tooth of time has been busy upon 
every part of the gigantic structure. Yet, notwithstanding all 
these concurring agencies of ruin, the Colosseum still stands 
grand and impressive as at first, even more impressive because 
of these marks that it bears of violence and of time. It rises 
before us as " the embodiment of the power and splendor of the 
empire." 

Many of the most important cities of Italy and of the provinces 
were provided with amphitheatres, similar in all essential respects 
to the Colosseum at the capital, only much inferior in size, save 
the one at Capua, which was nearly as large as the Flavian 
structure. 

Military Roads. — Foremost among the works of utility exe- 
cuted by the Romans, and the most expressive of the spirit of 
the people, were their military roads. Radiating from the capital, 
they grew with the growing empire, until all the countries about 
the Mediterranean and beyond the Alps were united to Rome and 
to one another by a perfect network of highways of such admirable 



THE APPIAN WAY. 



179 



construction that even now, in their ruined state, they excite the 
wonder of modern engineers. 

The most noted of all the Roman roads was the Via Appia, 
called by the ancients themselves the " Queen of Roads," which 
ran from Rome to Capua. It was built by Appius Claudius 
(312 B.C.), for whom it was named. Afterwards it was continued 
in a southeasterly direction, and carried across the peninsula to 
Brundisium, an important seaport on the coast of Calabria, 
whence expeditions were embarked for operations in the East. 




THE APPIAN WAY. (From a Photograph.) 



The Flaminian Way ran from the capital to Ariminum on the 
Adriatic, and thence was extended, under another name, north- 
ward into the valley of the Po. Several other roads, reaching out 
from Rome in different directions, completed the communication 
of the capital with the various cities and states of the peninsula. 
As the limits of the Roman authority extended, new roads were 
built in the conquered provinces — in Sicily, in Northern Africa, 



180 ARCHITECTURE. 

in Spain, over the Alps, along the Rhine and the Danube, through- 
out Gaul, Britain, Greece, and all the East. 

These military roads, with characteristic Roman energy and 
disregard of obstacles, were carried forward, as nearly as pos- 
sible, in straight lines and on a level, mountains being pierced 
with tunnels,^ and valleys crossed by massive viaducts. Near 
Naples may be seen one of these old tunnels still in use, called 
the Grotto of the Posilippo, which is over half a mile in length. 
It led the old Appian Way through a hill that at this point crossed 
its course. The usual width of the roadway was about thirteen 
feet; the bed was formed of broken stone and cement, upon 
which was sometimes laid, as in the case of the Via Appia, a 
regular pavement formed of large blocks of the hardest stone. 
Foot-paths often ran along the sides of the main roadway ; mile- 
posts told the distance from the capital ; and upon the best- 

1 In boring tunnels, the Roman engineers worked simultaneously from both 
sides of the mountain, in the same way that modern engineers do. In i860 an 
inscription was discovered which contains a curious report of an engineer who 
had in charge the construction of an aqueduct tunnel for the town of Saldse, 
in Algeria. During his absence the boring went awry, and the ends of the 
sections could not be brought together. The engineer was sent for. His 
report says: "I found everybody sad and despondent; they had given up all 
hopes that the two opposite sections of the tunnel would meet, because each 
section had already been excavated beyond the middle of the mountain, and 
the junction had not yet been effected. As always happens in these cases, the 
fault was attributed to the engineer, as though he had not taken all precautions 
to insure the success of the work. What could I have done better? I began 
by surveying and taking the levels of the mountain; I marked most carefully 
the axis of the tunnel across the ridge; I drew plans and sections of the whole 
work, which plans I handed over to Petronius Celer, then governor of Mauri- 
tania; and to take extra precaution, I summoned the contractor and his work- 
men, and began the excavation in their presence . . . Well, during the four 
years I was absent at Lambsese, expecting every day to hear the good tidings 
of the arrival of the waters at Saldse, the contractor and the assistant had com- 
mitted blunder upon blunder; in each section of the tunnel they had diverged 
from the straight line, each towards his right, and, had I waited a little longer 
before coming, Saldse would have possessed two tunnels instead of one." — 
Lanciani's Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries, p. 61. 



THE CLAUD IAN AQUEDUCT, 



181 



appointed roads seats were found disposed at proper intervals 
for the convenience of travellers. In the Forum at Rome was a 
gilded post, the ideal centre of the empire, and so of course of 
the world, from which distances on all the radiating roads were 
measured. 

Aqueducts. — To supply a great city with abundant and whole- 
some water is a matter of no less difficulty than importance. All 
the great capitals of the world, ancient and modern, have secured 




THE CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT. (From a Photograpn.) 



this boon only by the most lavish expenditure of labor and money. 
The kings of Babylon expended immense labor in the distribution 
of water through the gardens and residences of their capital. 
Solomon's greatest work, after the Temple, was the cutting of 
reservoirs (still existing as Solomon's Pools) for the collecting of 
water, and the construction of conduits to lead the same, from a 
distance of several miles, within the walls of Jerusalem. But the 
aqueducts of ancient Rome were the most stupendous construe- 



182 ARCHITECTURE. 

tions of this nature ever executed by the inhabitants of any city. 
That capital was probably better supplied with water than any 
other great city of ancient or, possibly, of modern times. The old 
writers compare to rivers the streams that the aqueducts poured 
through its streets. 

The water-system of Rome was commenced by Appius Claudius 
(about 313 B.C.), who secured the building of an aqueduct which 
led water into the city from the Sabine hills, through a subterra- 
nean channel eleven miles in length. From the spoils obtained 
in the war with Pyrrhus was built the Anio Aqueduct, so named 
because it brought water from the Anio River. A second aque- 
duct running from the same stream, and called the Anio Nova, 
to distinguish it from the older conduit, was about fifty-six miles 
in length. It ran beneath the ground until within about six miles 
of the city, when it was taken up on arches and thus carried over 
the low levels into the capital. In places this aqueduct was held 
up more than a hundred feet above the plain. During the repub- 
lic four aqueducts were completed ; under the emperors the num- 
ber was increased to fourteen.^ 

The Romans carried their aqueducts across depressions and 
valleys on high arches of masonry, not because they were igno- 
rant of the principle that water seeks a level, but for the reason 
that they could not make large pipes strong enough to resist the 
very great pressure to which they would be subjected.^ In some 
instances the principle, of the siphon was put in practice, and 
pipes (usually lead or earthen) were laid down one side of a 
valley and up the opposite slope. But their liability to accident, 
when the pressure was heavy, as we have intimated, led to the 
adoption in general of the other method. The lofty arches of 

1 Several of these are in use at the present day. 

2 " As to the main aqueducts, which supplied Rome with a daily volume 
of 54,000,000 cubic feet of water, it would have been impossible to substi- 
tute metal pipes for channels of masonry, because the Romans did not know 
cast-iron, and no pipe except of cast-iron could have supported such enormous 
pressure." — Lanciani's Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries^ p. 60, 



THERMM, OR BATHS. 183 

the ruined aqueducts that run in long broken lines over the plains 
beyond the walls of Rome are described by all visitors to the old 
capital as the most striking feature of the desolate Campagna. 

Thermae, or Baths. — The greatest demand upon the streams 
of water poured into Rome by the aqueducts was made by 
the Thermae, or baths.^ Among the ancient Romans, bathing, 
regarded at first simply as a troublesome necessity, became in 
time a luxurious art. During the republic, bathing-houses were 
erected in considerable numbers, the use of which could be 
purchased by a small entrance fee equivalent to about one cent 
of our money. Towards the end of the republic, when bathing 
had already come to be regarded as a luxury, ambitious politicians, 
anxious to gain the favor of the masses, would secure a free day 
for them at the baths. But it was during the imperial period that 
those magnificent structures to which the name of Thermce 
properly attaches, were erected. Nero, Titus, Trajan, Commodus, 
Caracalla, Decius, Constantine, and Diocletian, all erected splendid 
thermae, which, as they were intended to exhibit the liberality of 
their builders, were thrown open to the public free of charge. 
These edifices were very different affairs from the bathing-houses 
of the republican era. Those raised by the emperors were among 
the most elaborate and expensive of the imperial works. They 
contained chambers for cold, tepid, hot, sudatory, and swimming 
baths ; dressing-rooms and gymnasia ; museums and libraries ; 
covered colonnades for loitering and conversation ; extensive 
grounds filled with statues and traversed by pleasant walks ; and 
every other adjunct that could add to the sense of luxury and 
relaxation.^ The pavements were frequently set with the richest 

^ Vast quantities of water were also absorbed by the fountains, of which 
Rome is said to have had a larger number than any other city of the world in 
any age. M. Agrippa, the builder of the Pantheon, is credited with having 
set up 105, and his example found many imitators. 

2 Lanciani very aptly calls these imperial thermx " gigantic club-houses, 
whither the voluptuary and the elegant youth repaired for pastime and enjoy- 
ment." 



184 ARCHITECTURE. 

mosaics. The Thermae of Diocletian contained over three thou- 
sand of these stone pictures. Caracalla's Baths had over sixteen 
hundred marble seats ; granite pillars from Egypt decorated the 
colonnades ; green marble panellings, cut in Numidia, lined many 
of the chambers ; the fixtures of the baths were plated, and in 
some of the rooms were of solid silver. Some conception of the 
stupendous size of this structure may be gained from the fact that 
the entrance hall, or rotunda, of the building was almost as large 
as the celebrated Pantheon, which it resembled in form. 

It was not the inhabitants of the capital alone that had con- 
verted bathing into a luxury and an art. There was no town of 
any considerable size anywhere within the Hmits of the empire 
that was not provided with its thermae; and wherever springs 
possessing medicinal qualities broke from the ground, there arose 
magnificent baths, and such spots became the favorite watering- 
places of the Romans. Thus Baden-Baden was a noted and 
luxurious resort of the wealthy Romans centuries before it be- 
came the great summer haunt of the Germans. Baiae, near 
Naples, on account of its warm sulphur springs and the beauty 
of its surroundings, became crowded with the pleasure-seekers 
of the capital. These bathing-towns, as was almost inevitable, 
acquired an unenviable reputation as hotbeds of vice and shame- 
less indulgence. 

All the Roman thermae, after suffering repeated spoliation 
at the hands of successive robbers, have sunk into great heaps 
of rubbish. Many of their beautiful marbles were carried off 
by different Greek emperors to Constantinople. Charlemagne 
decorated his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle with columns torn from 
these imperial structures, which were then falling into dilapida- 
tion at Rome. The popes built others into St. Peter's Cathe- 
dral ; and the masons of Rome, like the brick- hunters of Baby- 
lon and Nineveh, for centuries mined amidst the vast heaps 
of the ruined structures for marble blocks and statues, to be 
burned into Ume for making cement. Modern excavations have 



PALACES AND VILLAS. 185 

recovered from the mounds of rubbish some of the most famous 
of the sculptures that are to be found in the museums of Europe. 

Palaces and Villas. — The residences of the wealthy Romans 
when built within the city walls were called mansions or pal- 
aces, but when located in the country were usually designated 
as villas. The Palatine was the aristocratic quarter of Rome, 
being occupied by the homes of ;the wealthy class. After the 
Great Fire, Nero erected here his Golden House, whose various 
buildings, courts, gardens, vineyards, fish-ponds, and other in- 
numerable appendages, spread over much of the burnt district. 
It was ''the most stupendous dwelling-place," declares Inge, "ever 
built for a mortal man." The central building upon the Palatine, 
shorn of its extensive grounds and useless adjuncts, became the 
residence of most of the emperors who held the throne after the 
death of Nero. 

Among the villas frequently mentioned by the old writers are 
those of Scipio, Metellus, Lucullus, Cicero, Hortensius, PHny, 
Horace, Virgil, Hadrian, and Diocletian. But to attempt enu- 
meration would be misleading. Every wealthy Roman possessed 
his villa, and many affected to keep up several in different parts 
of Italy. These country residences, while retaining the elegance 
and all the conveniences of the city palace, — baths, museums, 
and libraries, — added to these such adjuncts as were denied a 
place by the restricted room of the capital, — extensive gardens, 
aviaries, fish-ponds, vineyards, olive orchards, shaded walks, and 
well-kept drives. 

Perhaps the most noted of Roman villas was that of Hadrian at 
Tibur, now Tivoli. It was intended to be a miniature representa- 
tion of the world — both the upper and the lower. There were 
theatres, baths, and temples of rare workmanship. In one part 
of the grounds were reproduced the Thessahan Vale of Tempe 
and other celebrated bits of scenery. Subterranean labyrinths 
enabled the visitor to make an ^nean descent into Hades, and a 
journey amidst the scenes of the dolorous region.^ 

1 Guhl and Koner's Life of the Creeks and Romans, p. 372. 



186 



AR CHITE CTURE. 



Within the ruined enclosure of the villa of Diocletian — the em- 
peror who gave up imperial cares to raise vegetables at Salona, on 
the Adriatic — are crowded the buildings of the little modern 
village of Spalatro. 

Triumphal Columns and Arches. — Among all peoples, what- 
ever be their place in the scale of civilization, we find an instinct 




ARCH OF CONSTANTINE. 



or sentiment which prompts them to endeavor to perpetuate the 
memory of important events in their history by means of com- 
memorative monuments. When Jacob, upon the spot where he 
had dreamed, set up a stone for a pillar and poured oil upon the 
top of it, he simply obeyed that universal impulse which has given 
to the world the grand lettered obelisks of the Pharaohs, destined, 
seemingly, to stand as long as the world shall endure, and the 
imposing sculptured columns of the Romans, to some of which 



SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS. 187 

seems to have been granted the immortality of the Egyptian mon- 
uments. 

The first historic column raised by the Romans was erected in 
the year 261 B.C., to commemorate their first naval victory, gained 
by Duillius over the Carthaginian fleet. It was decorated with 
the brazen prows of the broken and captured ships of the enemy 
(see p. 47). Trajan's Column, built to commemorate the Da- 
cian victories of that emperor, is a remarkable work. It is still 
standing in an almost perfect state of preservation. It is over one 
hundred feet in height, and is pictured from base to summit with 
representations of battles and various scenes illustrative of Trajan's 
Dacian campaigns (see p. 136). 

The triumphal arches of the Romans were modelled after the 
city gates, being constructed with single and with triple archways. 
Two of the most noted monuments of this character, and the most 
interesting because of their historic connections, are the Arch of 
Titus and the Arch of Constantine, both of which are still standing. 
Upon the former are represented the articles brought from Jerusa- 
lem by Titus as the spoils of the war against the Jews (see p. 133). 
The Arch of Constantine was intended to commemorate the vic- 
tory of that emperor over Maxentius, which event established 
Christianity as the imperial and favored religion of the empire. 

Sepulchral Monuments. — The Romans in the earliest times 
seem to have usually buried their dead ; but towards the close 
of the republican period cremation, or burning, became common. 
When Christianity took possession of the empire, the doctrine ot 
the resurrection of the dead which it taught caused inhumation, 
or burying, again to become the prevalent mode. 

The favorite burying-place among the Romans was along the 
highways ; the Appian Way was lined with sepulchral monuments 
for a distance of several miles from the gates of the capital (see 
cut on p. 179). Many of these are still standing. These memorial 
structures were as varied in design as are the monuments in our 
modern cemeteries. Shafts, broken columns, altars, pyramids, 
and chapels were oft-recurring forms. 



188 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

Two sepulchral edifices of the imperial era deserve special 
notice. One of these was raised by Augustus as a tomb and 
monument for himself and his successors. It stood close to the 
banks of the Tiber, and consisted of an enormous circular tower 
raised upon a massive square substructure. A century later, this 
sepulchre having become filled, Hadrian constructed a similar 
monument, which was richer, however, in marbles and sculptures, 
upon the opposite bank of the Tiber. This structure was called, 
after the emperor, the Mole, or Mausoleum, of Hadrian. It is 
now used as a military fortress under the name of the Castle of 
St. Angelo. The massive structure, battered by many sieges and 
assaults and decayed through lapse of time, presents, next after 
the Colosseum, the most imposing appearance of any of the mon- 
uments of the ancient Romans. 

Literature, Philosophy, and Law. 

P Literature among the Romans. — The literary or purely in- 
tellectual life of the Romans was in every way far inferior to that 
of the Greeks. The old conquerors of the world were too prac- 
tical a race — were too much absorbed in the business of war and 
government -^- to find much time to pay devotion to the Muses, or 
to pursue with much earnestness those philosophical speculations 
which were so congenial to the Attic intellect.^ All the national 
aims and pursuits of this- martial race trained their ear to catch 
more music in the tread of legions than in the sweetest cadences 
of the poet's verse. Their very amusements tended to the same 
end as did their more serious employments. The stern real trag- 
edies of the amphitheatre rendered tame the mock tragedies of 
the stage. The inspiration and encouragement of popular appre- 
ciation and applause, which raised the tragic drama to such lofty 
excellence at Athens, were almost wholly wanting at Rome. 

1 " The deepest and ultimate reason of the diversity between the two nations 
lay beyond doubt in the fact that Latiunfi did not, and that Hellas did, during 
the season of growth come into contact with the East." — Mommsen. 



THE PERIOD OE LITERARY ACTIVTTY. 189 

Therefore, in the brief examination which we now purpose to 
make of Latin Uterature, we must not expect to discover such worth 
and genius as distinguish the intellectual productions of the Hel- 
lenic race ; still we shall find the literary memorials of the Roman 
people possessing so many eminent qualities and so much merit 
that we shall acknowledge they are justly assigned a prominent, 
though not the foremost, place among the literary treasures of the 
world. 

The Period of Literary Activity. — It was only the last two 
centuries of the republic and the first of the empire — only three 
centuries in all — that were marked by the literary activity and 
productiveness of the Latin intellect. The first five centuries of 
Roman history are almost barren of literary monuments. But in 
the third century B.C., under the fostering influences of the repub- 
lic, literature began to spring up and to flourish, and by the time 
of the estabUshment of the empire, had reached its fullest and 
richest development ; then, upon the fall of the institutions of the 
repubhcan era, it soon begun to languish, and survived the death 
of freedom barely a single century. The last four hundred years 
of the imperial era exhibit the name of scarcely a single writer of 
vigor and originality. 

We here learn how depressing and withering are the influences 
of a capricious and irresponsible despotism, which forbids all 
freedom and truthfulness, upon the intellectual and literary life of 
a people. Literature is a plant that thrives best in the free air of a 
repubUc. It is true, indeed, that some of the choicest fruit of the 
Latin intellect ripened during the first years of the empire ; but 
this had been long maturing under the influences of the republican 
period, and should properly be credited to that era. Besides, the 
evil tendencies of the unlimited monarchy had not yet manifested 
themselves under Augustus ; stifl, even during the reign of that 
emperor, Ovid, one of the brightest minds of the period, was 
exiled, without any reason being assigned for the act, to the bar- 
barous shores of the Euxine. But the conduct of the despot 
Nero will better illustrate what we have affirmed. That tyrant 



190 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

was on the point of burning every copy of the Iliad and of the 
yEneid, because, in the imperial judgment, Homer had no taste, 
and Virgil was without genius. What shall literature do under 
such censorship? 

Relation of Roman to Greek Literature. — Latin literature was 
almost wholly imitative or borrowed, being a reproduction of 
Greek models ; still it performed a most important service for 
civilization : it was the medium for the dissemination throughout 
the world of the rich Uterary treasures of Greece. 

In order to reahze the greatness of its work and influence, we 
must bear in mind that the spread of the Latin tongue was coex- 
tensive with the conquests of Rome. The subjugated nations, 
with the laws of their conquerors, received also their language. 
In those countries where the subjected peoples were inferior in 
civilization to the Romans, the language of the conquerors came 
into general use. Such was the condition of all the nations in 
the West. Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Northern Africa became so 
thoroughly Romanized before the overthrow of the empire that 
the Latin tongue, much corrupted of course from the classical 
forms of the capital, came into universal use among all classes. 
It was somewhat different in the East, where the Hellenic language 
and culture had been spread. The speech of Rome never suc- 
ceeded in crowding out the Greek language as it pushed aside 
and displaced the various rude and barbarous dialects of the 
tribes of Western Europe. Yet throughout all the Eastern prov- 
inces the Roman tongue became the speech of the ruHng class, 
and was understood and very generally employed by men of 
education and social position. 

We see, then, how very extended was the audience addressed 
by the Roman writers. The works of the Latin poets and his- 
torians were read everywhere within the limits of the Roman 
empire, and that is equivalent to saying that they circulated 
throughout the civilized world. And wherever Latin literature 
found its way there were scattered broadcast the seeds of Grecian 
culture, science, and philosophy. The relation of Rome to 



LAVS AND BALLADS OF LEGENDARY AGE. 191 

Greece was exactly the same as that of Phoenicia to Egypt, as 
expressed by Lenormant : Greece was the mother of modern 
civilization ; Rome was its missionary. 

Lays and Ballads of the Legendary Age. — The period em- 
braced between the eighth and fourth centuries B.C. may properly 
be called the Heroic Age of Rome. It corresponds exactly, in its 
literary products, to the similarly designated period in Grecian 
history. During this early age there sprang up a great number of 
hymns, ballads, or lays, of which the merest fragments survived 
the varying fortunes of the state, and were preserved in the works 
of the later writers of the republic. "The fabulous birth of 
Romulus, the rape of the Sabine women, the most poetical com- 
bat of the Horatii and Curiatii, the pride of Tarquin, the misfor- 
tunes and death of Lucretia, the establishment of liberty by the 
elder Brutus, the wonderful war with Porsenna, the steadfast- 
ness of Sc?evola, the banishment of Coriolanus, the war which he 
kindled against his country, the subsequent struggle of his feelings, 
and the final triumph of his patriotism at the all-powerful interces- 
sion of his mother — these and the like circumstances, if they be 
examined from the proper point of view, cannot fail to be consid- 
ered as relics and fragments of the ancient heroic traditions and 
heroic poems of the Romans."^ 

These stories must be placed along with the Grecian tales of 
Cadmus and Theseus, of the Argonautic Expedition and the 
Trojan War. They belong to the literary, and not to the historical, 
annals of the Roman people. They may be made use of for his- 
torical purposes, but only in the same way that the poems of 
Homer are used. The references and allusions they contain throw 
light upon the manners, customs, and modes of thinking of the 
remote times in which they grew up. The few threads of fact 
that may be drawn from them have been woven into the picture 
which, in a previous chapter, we attempted to form of the early 
Roman state. 

1 Schlegel, in Lectures on Literature, as quoted by Dunlop in History of 
Roman Literature, vol. i. p. 41. 



192 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

The Roman Dramatists. — From the earHest times Rome was 
under the influence of Grecian civihzation, as is shown in the 
laws of the Twelve Tables ; but the conquest of the Hellenic 
cities of Southern Italy as the outcome of the war with Pyrrhus, 
and the acquisition of Sicily as the result of the First Punic War, 
brought the Romans into much closer relations than had hitherto 
existed with the arts and culture of the Greeks. The Romans 
now began to study with much appreciation, and not without 
profit, the rich stores of Greek literature opened to them. Among 
the leading families of Rome, it became the fashion to commit 
the education of children to Greek slaves. The conqueror bows 
at the feet of the conquered. The intellectual sway of Athens 
over Rome becomes not less complete and despotic than the 
political sway of Rome over Athens. The debt incurred by the 
Romans in all intellectual and literary matters to the Greeks has 
been declared to be but faintly paralleled by that incurred by 
the Enghsh in theology, philosophy, and music to Germany.^ 
"Their [the Romans'] genius, I believe," says Dunlop, "would 
have remained unproductive and cold half a century longer, had 
it not been kindled by contact with a warm, polished, and ani- 
mated nation, whose compositions could not be read without 
enthusiasm or imitated without advantage."" 

It was the dramatic productions of the Greeks which were first 
copied and studied by the Romans. Translations for the stage, 
particularly those of a comic character, were received with great 
favor, and the theatre became the popular resort of all classes. 
For nearly two centuries, from 240 B.C. to 78 B.C., dramatic htera- 
ture was almost the only form of composition cultivated at Rome. 
During this epoch appeared all the great dramatists ever produced 
by the Latin- speaking race. Of these we may name, for brief 
mention, Livius Andronicus, Naevius, Ennius, Plautus, and Ter- 
rence. All of these writers were close imitators of Greek authors, 

1 Cruttwell's History of Roman Literature, p. 36.. 

2 Dunlop's History of Roman Literature, vol. i. p. 55. 



THE ROMAN DRAMATISTS. 193 

and most of their works were simply adaptations or translations of 
the masterpieces of the Greek dramatists. 

Livius Andronicus, who lived about the middle of the third cen- 
tury B.C., was probably a Greek prisoner carried to Rome from 
some city of Magna Graecia. He was the father of the Roman 
drama. He transformed the mimic dances, which had been in- 
troduced at Rome by Etruscan actors about a century before his 
time (in 364 B.C.), into a real dramatic representation, by adding 
to the performance dialogues to be recited by the actors. He was 
the performer of his own pieces, and was so often recalled by his 
admirers that he overtaxed and lost his voice. After this misfor- 
tune befell him, he employed a boy to declaim those parts of the 
dialogue which required to be rendered in a high tone, while he 
himself played the flute, recited the less declamatory passages, 
and accompanied the whole with the proper gesticulation. This 
mode of representation, which Livius had been constrained to 
adopt through accident, afterwards became the fashion in the 
Roman theatres ; and the plays were usually presented by two 
persons, one reciting the words and the other accompanying 
them with the appropriate gestures. 

Naevius, who wrote about the close of the third century B.C., 
was the first native-born Roman poet of eminence. His works 
were translations from various Greek dramatists. He imitated 
Aristophanes ; and as the latter lashed the corrupt politicians of 
Athens, so did the former expose to ridicule and contempt differ- 
ent members of the leading patrician families at Rome. He did 
not escape with impunity ; for he was once in prison, and finally 
died an exile at Utica or Cathage (about 204 b.c). Naevius bore 
part as a soldier in the First Punic War, and he found solace 
during the years of his exile in writing in epic verse the events of 
that stirring time. 

Ennius, a contemporary of Naevius, was an epic as well as a 
dramatic writer. The greatest work from his prolific pen was the 
Annals, an epic poem recounting in graceful and vigorous verse 
the story of Rome from the times of the kings to his own day. 



194 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

Had Virgil never lived, Ennius must always have been named as 
the greatest epic poet produced by the Roman race ; and the 
fragments of his Annals which still survive would be carefully pre- 
served as the remains of the Roman Iliad. For two centuries, 
until the advent of the Augustan poets, the works of Ennius held 
almost supreme sway over the Roman mind. His verses were 
constantly rehearsed in the theatres ; they were committed to 
memory by the Roman youth, were quoted by the orator, and 
borrowed by the poet. Virgil acknowledged Ennius as his master 
by becoming a diligent student of his works, and by transcribing 
word for word many of his most beautiful passages. 

Plautus (254-184 B.C.) and Terence (195-161 B.C.) were writers 
of comedy, who won a fame that has not yet perished. Plautus 
adapted various Greek plays to the Roman stage, corrupting all 
the pieces he touched with low wit and drollery, in order to catch 
the ear of the lower classes that thronged the theatres. His plays 
reproduced before the inhabitants of the capital the corrupt life 
of the East, whose debasing influences were at this time beginning 
to effect a lowering of the tone of society at Rome. Terence 
wrote more for the cultured classes, and did not stoop to employ 
those means by which Plautus secured the applause of his audi- 
ences. All of the six comedies which Terence wrote were either 
translations or adaptations from the Greek. As Plautus and Terence 
borrowed from the Greek stage, so have all modern writers of 
comedy — Italian, French, and English — drawn freely from these 
their great Roman predecessors.^ 

1 " ' The earliest writers,' as has justly been remarked, * took possession of 
the most striking objects for description, and the most probable occurrences 
for fiction, and left nothing to those that followed but transcriptions of the 
same events, and new combinations of the same images' \_Rasselas\. The 
great author from whom these reflections are quoted had at one time actually 
projected a work to show how small a quantity of invention there is in the 
world, and that the same images and incidents, with little variation, have 
served all the authors who have ever written. Had he prosecuted his inten- 
tion, he would have found the notion he entertained fully confirmed by the 
history both of dramatic ^nd yoi^antic fiction 5 he would have perceived the 



POETS OF THE LATER REPUBLICAN ERA. 195 

Poets of the Later Republican Era. — In the year 146 b.c, 
Corinth in Greece was destroyed, the treasures of its museums 
and the rolls of its libraries were carried to Italy, and Roman 
authority became supreme throughout Greece. The impulse that 
had been given to the study of Greek models by the conquest of 
Magna Graecia more than one hundred years before was now 
intensified and strengthened. But with the introduction of the 
learning and refinement of the conquered states came also the 
luxuries and vices of the East. Just at this time, evoked, it would 
seem, by the shameless extravagances and corruptions that invited 
rebuke, appeared Lucilius (born 148 B.C.), one of the greatest 
of Roman satirists. The later satirists of the corrupt imperial era 
were the imitators of the republican poet. 

Besides Lucilius, there appeared during the later republican era 
only two other poets of distinguished merit, — Lucretius and 
Catullus. Both were born early in the last century before Christ. 
Lucretius studied at Athens, where he became deeply imbued 
with the doctrines of the Epicurean philosophy, which at that 
time was in the ascendant at the Attic capital. He left behind 
him but a single work, entitled De Renwi Natura — (" On the 
Nature of Things ")-)<' Lucretius was a thorough evolutionist, and 
in his great poem we find anticipated many of the conclusions of 
modern scientists. He pictures Chaos with more than Miltonic 
power ; tells how the worlds were formed by a " fortuitous con- 
course of atoms " ; relates how the generations of life were 
evolved by the teeming earth ; ridicules the superstitions of his 
countrymen, declaring that the gods do not trouble themselves 
with earthly affairs, but that storms, lightning, volcanoes, and 
pestilences are produced by natural causes, and not by the anger 

incapacity of the most active and fertile imagination greatly to diversify 
the common characters and incidents of life, v^'hich, on a superficial view, one 
might suppose to be susceptible of infinite combinations; he would have found 
that, while Plautus and Terence servilely copied from the Greek dramatists, 
even Ariosto scarcely diverged in his comedies from the paths of Plautus." 
— DUNLOp's IIislo7y of Roman Literature, Preface, p, xix. 



196 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

of the celestials ; and finally reaches the conclusion that death 
ends all for the human soul. Lucretius is studied more by mod- 
ern scholars, whose discoveries and theories he so marvellously 
anticipated, than he was by the Romans of his own time. 

Catullus was a poet the beauty and sweetness of whose verses 
are winning to their study at the present day many ardent 
admirers. He was born 87 B.C., and died at the age of about 
forty. He complains of poverty; yet he kept two villas, and 
found means to indulge in all the expensive and Hcentious 
pleasures of the capital. He has been called the Roman Burns, 
as well on account of the waywardness of his life as from the 
sweetness of his song. The name of Catullus closes the short 
list of the prominent poets of the republican period of the Golden 
Age. 

Poets of the Augustan Age. — Three poets have cast an 
unfading lustre over the period covered by the reign of Augustus, 
— Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. So distinguished have these writers 
rendered the age in which they lived, that any period in a 
people's literature signalized by exceptional literary taste and 
refinement is called, in allusion to the Roman era, an Augustan 
Age. After the terrific commotion that marked the decline ' and 
overthrow of the republic, the long and firm and peaceful reign 
of Augustus brought welcome relief and rest to the Roman world, 
wearied with conquests and with contentions over the spoils of 
war. In narrating the political history of this period, we spoke 
of the effect of the fall of the repubhc upon the development of 
Latin literature. Many who, if the republican institutions had 
continued, would have been absorbed in the affairs of the state, 
were led, by the change of government, to seek solace for 
their disappointed hopes, and employment for their enforced 
leisure, in the graceful labors of elegant composition. Augustus 
encouraged this disposition, thinking thus to turn the thoughts of 
ambitious minds from broodings over the lost cause. By his 
princely patronage of letters he opened a new and worthy field 
for the efforts and competitions of the active and the aspiring. 



POETS OF THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 197 

His minister Maecenas, in whose veins flowed royal Etruscan 
blood, vied with his master in the bestowal of munificent rewards 
upon friends, and in the extension of a helpful and inspiring 
patronage to literary merit, and thus did much towards creating 
the enthusiasm for letters that distinguishes this period. 

The vastness of the audience they addressed also reacted upon 
the writers of this era, and encouraged the greatest painstaking in 
all their productions. Never before had literary men spoken to 
so extended an audience — to so much of the world. The bound- 
aries of the Roman empire now touched everywhere the limits 
of civilization. And throughout these ample domains the Roman 
language had become more or less universally spread. In all the 
West, as we have seen, in Italy, in Gaul, in Spain, in the cities of 
Northern Africa, it was rapidly supplanting the barbarous dialects 
of the conquered tribes ; while throughout all the provinces and 
cities of the East it was the speech of the court, of the aristocracy, 
of learning. The works of Virgil, of Horace, and of Ovid were 
read and admired in the camps of Gaul and in the capitals of 
Greece and Syria. Political tranquillity, elegant leisure, imperial 
patronage, the inspirations of Greek genius, the encouragement 
of appreciation and wide attention — everything conspired to 
create an epoch in the world of hterature. 

And yet we must not look for vigor, strength, originality, 
nervous energy, in the productions of the writers of this period. 
These qualities belong to times of great public excitement; to 
periods of activity, change, revolution ; to those eras that signalize 
the crises and grand struggles of a people's life. They mark 
creative, Shakespearian epochs in literature. Elegance, grace, 
refinement, polish, taste, beauty, are the characteristics of the 
Augustan writers. 

Of the three poets whom we have named as the representatives 
of the poetry of the Augustan period, Virgil doubtless has been 
the most widely read and admired. He was born 70 B.C. in the 
little village of Andes, not far from Mantua. In diligent study 
fit Naples, he formed the acquaintance of the master-minds of 



198 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

Grecian literature, and felt the inspirations of the past life of 
Hellas. Upon his farm at Mantua he learned to love nature and 
the freedom of a country life. During the disorders of the 
Second Triumvirate his villa was confiscated, along with the 
whole Mantuan district, and given to friends of Octavius and 
Antony. It was afterwards restored to the poet by Augustus. 
Virgil was laboring upon his greatest work, the ^neid, when 
death came to him, in the fifty-second year of his age. 

The three great works of Virgil are his Eclogues, the Georgics, 
and the ^neid. The Eclogues are a series of pastorals, which 
are very close imitations of the poems of the Sicilian Theocritus.^ 
Virgil, however, never borrowed without adorning that which he 
appropriated by the inimitable touches of his own graceful genius. 
It is the rare sweetness and melody of the versification, and the 
Arcadian simplicity of these pieces, that have won for them such 
a host of admirers. 

In the poem of the Georgics Virgil extols and dignifies the 
husbandman and his labor. This work has been pronounced the 
most finished poem in the entire range of Latin literature. It 
was written at the suggestion of Maecenas, who hoped by means 
of the poet's verse to allure his countrymen back to that love 
for the art of husbandry which animated the fathers of the early 
Roman state. Throughout the work Virgil follows very closely 
the Works and Days of Hesiod.^ The poet treats of all the 
labors and cares of the farm — gives valuable precepts respecting 
the keeping of bees and cattle, the sowing and tillage of crops, 
the dressing of vineyards and orchards, and embellishes the whole 
with innumerable passages containing beautiful descriptions of 
natural scenery, or inculcating some philosophical truth, or teach- 
ing some moral lesson. Without the Georgics we should never 
have had the Seasons of Thomson ; for this work of the English 
poet is in a large measure a direct translation of the verses of 
Virgil. 

1 See Eastern Nations and Greece, p. 325, 

2 Ibid., p. 309. 



POETS OF THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 199 

The /Ejieid stands next to the Iliad as the greatest epic poem 
of all literatures. It tells the story of the wanderings of ^neas 
and his companions up and down the Mediterranean after the 
downfall of Troy, his settlement in Italy, and the struggles of his 
descendants with the native inhabitants of the land. Through 
^neas, the hero of the poem, Virgil doubtless intends to repre- 
sent and compliment the character of his patron, Augustus. In 
this, his greatest work, Virgil was a close student of the Iliad and 
the Odyssey^ and to them he is indebted for very many of his 
finest metaphors, similes, and descriptive passages, as well as for 
the general plan and structure of the entire work. To Ennius 
is he also indebted for many a verse. Homer was Virgil's superior 
in energy and originality, and in the martial grandeur of his lines ; 
while the latter surpassed his master in the grace, melody, ele- 
gance, and harmony of his versification. 

Virgil enjoyed for his work that reward which many another 
worthy poet has been denied — the appreciation of his genius 
during his own lifetime. The poet, in accordance with a custom 
that in his day was common, read or recited his poems in the pres- 
ence of select friends, and also in pubHc. On one occasion he 
repeated the sixth book of his ^neid before his imperial patron 
Augustus and his sister Octavia, who was then mourning the recent 
death of her son Marcellus, the special favorite and adopted child 
of the emperor. In the part of the poem rehearsed by Virgil 
occurs the well-known passage that mourns with the tenderest 
pathos the too early death of the favorite prince. The closing 
lines, which alone reveal the name of the subject of the lament, 

run thus : 

" Ah, dear lamented boy, canst thou but break 
The stern decrees of fate, then wilt thou be 
Our own Marcellus ! — Give me lilies, brought 
In heaping handfuls. Let me scatter here 
Dead purple flowers; these offerings at least 
To my descendant's shade I fain would pay. 
Though now, alas ! an unavailing rite." ^ 

^ /Eneid, book vi. (Cranch's translation). 



200 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

It is said that as Virgil read these verses Octavia was so carried 
away by her feeUngs that she fainted, and that the poet was after- 
wards presented with 10,000 sesterces (about ^^400) for each of 
the twenty-five lines of the passage. 

Horace, the second great poet of the Augustan Age, was born 
in the year 65 B.C., only five years later than Virgil, whom he out- 
lived by about a single decade. He studied at Athens, fought with 
the republicans at Philippi, gained no glory — for he tells us him- 
self how he ran away from the field — but lost his paternal estate 
at Venusia, which was confiscated, and under the imperial govern- 
ment commenced life anew as a clerk at Rome. Through his 
friend Virgil he secured the favor of Maecenas, and gained an 
introduction to Augustus, and thenceforth led the life of a courtier, 
dividing his time between the pleasures of the capital and the 
scenes of his pleasant farm near the village of Tibur. The latter 
years of his Hfe were shadowed by the deaths of his poet-friends 
Virgil and Tibullus, and that of his generous patron Maecenas, 
whom he survived only a few weeks. Horace's Odes, Satires, and 
Epistles have all helped win for him his wide-spread fame ; but 
the first best exhibit his rare grace and genius. 

Ovid (42 B.c.-A.D. 18) is the third name in the triumvirate of 
poets that ruled the Augustan Age. He was the most learned of 
the three, seeming indeed to be acquainted with the whole round 
of Greek and Latin literature and speculation. For some fault or 
misdemeanor, the precise nature of which remains a profound 
secret to this day, Augustus, his former friend and patron, ban- 
ished the poet to a small town away on the frontiers of the empire 
— on the bleak shores of the Euxine. There he spent the last 
years of his life, bewailing his hard lot in the mournful verses of 
his Tristia. His most celebrated work is his Metamorphoses, the 
preservation of wl^ich we owe to the merest good-fortune. When 
the emperor's decree was brought to him, he was at work revising 
the manuscript, which, in despair or anger, he flung into the fire. 
Fortunately some friend had previously made a copy of the work, 
and thus this Hterary treasure was saved to the world. The poem 



SATIRE AND SATIRISTS. 201 

opens with a sublime description of Chaos and the creation of the 
world ; then tells of the production of monstrous life by the pro- 
lific earth, and of the changing races of men and giants ; after 
which the poet proceeds to describe, through fifteen books, be- 
tween two and three hundred metamorphoses, or transformations 
— such as the change of the companions of Ulysses into swine, of 
Cadmus into a serpent, and of Arethusa into a fountain — suffered 
by various persons, gods, heroes, and goddesses, as related in the 
innumerable fables of the Greek and Roman mythologies. 

We have already alluded to Tibullus as the friend of Virgil and 
Horace. His graceful elegies entitle his name to a prominent 
place among the poets of the Augustan Age. Propertius, too, was 
another honored and beloved member of the brilliant coterie of 
poets that have rendered the reign of Augustus ever memorable 
in the literary history of the world. 

Satire and Satirists. — Satire thrives best in the reeking soil 
and tainted atmosphere of an age of selfishness, immorality, and 
vice. Such an age was that which followed the Augustan era at 
Rome. The throne was held by such imperial monsters as Tibe- 
rius, Caligula, Nero, and Domitian. The profligacy of fashionable 
life at the capital and the various watering-places of the empire 
was open and shameless. The degradation of the court; the 
corrupt and dissolute life of the upper classes ; the imbruted life 
of the masses, fed by largesses of corn and entertained with the 
bloody shows of the amphitheatre \ the decay of the ancient 
religion, and the almost universal prevalence of unbelief and 
absolute atheism ; the utter loss of the simplicity and virtue of 
the early Roman fathers, and the almost complete degradation 
of the intellect, — all these gave venom and point to the shafts of 
those who were goaded by the spectacle into attacking the immo- 
ralities and vices which were silently yet rapidly sapping the 
foundations of both society and state. Hence arose a succession 
of writers whose mastery of sharp and stinging satire has caused 
their productions to become the models of all subsequent attempts 
in the same species of literature. Three names stand out in spe- 



202 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

cial prominence, — Persius, Juvenal, and Martial/ — all of whom 
lived and wrote during the last half of the first and the beginning of 
the second century a.d.^ Their writings possess an historical value 
and interest, as it is through them that we gain an insight such as 
we could obtain in no other way into the venal and corrupt life of 
the capital during the early portion of the imperial period. 

The indignant protest of Persius, Juvenal, and Martial against 
the vice and degradation of their time is almost the last utterance 
of the Latin Muse. From this time forward the decay of the 
intellectual life of Rome was swift and certain. While the Greek 
intellect, as we have learned, survived by many centuries the 
destruction of the political Hfe of Greece, the Latin intellect sank 
into decrepitude centuries before the final fall of the empire. The 
political fabric — so admirably consolidated had it become through 
the growth and labors of many centuries — remained standing, 
like an aged oak, long after its heart had been eaten away. But 
it could put forth no new shoots. After the death of Juvenal 
(about A.D. 120) the Roman world produced not a single poet of 
sufficient genius to merit our attention. 

Oratory among the Romans. — "Public oratory," as has been 
truly said, " is the child of political freedom, and cannot exist 
without it." We have seen this illustrated in the history of repub- 
hcan Athens. Equally well is the same truth exempUfied by the 
records of the Roman state. All the great orators of Rome arose 
under the republic. As during this period almost the entire 
intellectual force of the nation was directed towards legal and 
political studies, it was natural, and indeed inevitable, that the 
most famous orators of the era should appear as statesmen or 

1 Martial was an epigrammatist, but almost all his epigrams were pressed 
into the service of satire. 

2 There are two other poets belonging to this age whose names must not be 
passed unmentioned, — Lucan (A.D. 38-65) and Statius (A.D. 61-95). L^can's 
only extant work is his Pharsalia, an epic poem on the civil war between 
Caesar and Pompey. Statius wrote two epics, the Thebaid and the Achilieidt 
the latter being left incomplete. 



ORATORY AMONG THE ROMANS. 203 

advocates. Theology, science, and belles-lettres did not then, as 
they have come to do among ourselves, suggest inviting and popu- 
lar themes for the best efforts of the public speaker. 

Roman oratory was senatorial, popular, and judicial. These dif- 
ferent styles of eloquence were represented by the grave and 
dignified debates of the Senate, the impassioned and often noisy 
and inelegant harangues of the Forum, and the learned pleadings 
or ingenious appeals of the courts. Junius Brutus, Appius Claudius 
Caecus, the Scipios, Cato the Censor, Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus, 
Lucius Licinius, Marcus Antonius, Lucius Crassus, Sulpicius, 
Hortensius, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony,^ and Cicero are some of 
the most prominent names that have made the rostrum of the 
Roman Forum and the assembly-chamber of the Roman Senate 
famous in the records of oratory and eloquence. Among all these 
orators, Hortensius and Cicero are easily first. 

Hortensius (114-50 B.C.) was a famous lawyer, whose name 
adorns the legal profession at the capital both as the learned 
jurist and the eloquent advocate. His forensic talent won for 
him a lucrative law-practice, through which he gathered an im- 
mense fortune. Besides a mansion on the Palatine, he possessed 
several villas, which were kept up with a most profuse expenditure. 
The olive-trees in his gardens were sprinkled with wine, to improve 
the flavor of the fruit. His fish-ponds were stocked with an infi- 
nite variety of fresh and marine fish, the food and health of which 
were matters of greater concern to their master than the food 
and health of his slaves. It is told that he actually wept over the 
untimely death of a favorite lamprey. 

But the brightness of the fame of Hortensius is dimmed by the 
lustre of the name of Marcus TuUius Cicero - (106-43 i^-c), the un- 
tiring student, the constant patriot, the polished orator. He has 
been called " the Edward Everett of antiquity." He enjoyed 
every advantage that wealth and parental ambition could con- 

1 Grandson of Marcus Antonius. 

2 Some critics, however, are unwilling to accord much praise to Cicero. 
Mommsen declares that he was nothing but a ** dexterous stylist." 



204 



LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 




CICERO. (From a bust at Madrid.) 



fer or suggest. His teachers were the poet Archias and the orator 
Crassus. Like many others of the Roman patrician youths of his 

time, he was sent to Greece to 
finish his education in the schools 
of Athens. Returning to Italy, 
he soon assumed a position of 
commanding influence at the Ro- 
man capital. His prosecution of 
Verres shows his hatred of the 
official corruption and venality 
that disgraced his times ; his ora- 
tions against Catiline illustrate his 
patriotism ; his essays exhibit the 
wide range of his thoughts and 
the depth of his philosophical 
reflections. All his productions 
evince the most scrupulous care 
in their preparation. He was a 
purist in language, and is said to have sometimes spent several 
days hunting for a proper word or phrase. His greatest fault was 
his overweening vanity, which appears in all he ever wrote, as well 
as in every act of his life. But the times in which Cicero lived 
rather than the orator himself are responsible for this. The an- 
cient Romans possessed scarcely a trace of that sense of propriety 
which has grown up among us, and which forbids a person's cele- 
brating his own virtues. Self-laudation, when not too fulsome, did 
not grate on the ears of Cicero's auditors. 

Latin Historians. — Ancient Rome produced four writers of 
history whose works have won for them a permanent fame — Css- 
sar, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. Suetonius may also be mentioned 
in this place, although his writings were rather biographical than 
historical.^ 

1 A fuller list of Roman historical authors would have to admit the name of 
Fabius Pictor, who lived in the age of Nsevius, and was the first historian of 
the Latin -speaking race; that of Cato the Censor, of whose Antiquities we 



LATIN HISTORIANS. 205 

Of Caesar and his Cominejitarics on the Gallic War, we have 
learned in a previous chapter. This work and his Memoirs of the 
Civil War are the productions on which his fame as a writer 
depends. He also prepared a Latin grammar, a book on divina- 
tion, a treatise on astronomy, and, besides, composed some poems 
that are not without merit. But Caesar was a man of affairs rather 
than a man of letters. Yet his Commentaries will always be men- 
tioned along with the Anabasis of Xenophon, as a model of the 
narrative style of writing. 

Sallust (86-34 B.C.) was the contemporary and friend of Caesar. 
He was praetor of one of the African provinces. Following the 
example of the Roman officials of his time, he amassed by harsh 
if not unjust exactions an immense fortune, and erected at Rome 
a palatial residence with extensive and beautiful gardens, which 
became one of the favorite resorts of the literary characters of the 
capital. The two works upon which his fame rests are the C071- 
spiracy of Catiline and the Jugurthine War. Both of these pro- 
ductions are reckoned among the best specimens of prose writ- 
ing in the entire range of Latin literature, and are found in the 
hands of every classical student in the universities of Europe and 
America. 

Livy (59 B.C.-A.D.17) was one of the brightest ornaments of 
the Augustan Age. In popular esteem he holds the first place 
among Latin historical authors. Herodotus among the ancient, 
and Macaulay among the modern, writers of historical narrative 
are the names with which his is oftenest compared. His greatest 
work is his Annals, a history of Rome from the earliest times to 
the year 9 B.C. Unfortunately, all save thirty-five of the books 
of this admirable production — the work filled one hundred and 
forty-two volumes — perished during the disturbed period that 
followed the overthrow of the empire. Many have been the 
laments over " the lost books of Livy." The fragments which 
remain have been universally read and admired for the inimitable 

possess the merest fragments; and that of Cornelius Nepos, who wrote in the 
first century B.C. 



206 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

grace and ease of the flowing narrative. Livy loved a story 
equally well with Herodotus. Like the Greek historian, he was 
over-credulous, and relates with charming ingenuousness, without 
the least questioning of their credibility, all the early legends, 
myths, and ballads that were extant in his day, respecting the 
early affairs of Rome. Modern critics, among whom are Niebuhr 
and Mommsen, have shown that all the first portion of his history 
is entirely unreliable as a chronicle of actual events. However, it 
is a most entertaining account of what the Romans themselves 
thought and believed respecting the origin of their race, the 
founding of their city and state, and the deeds and virtues of 
their forefathers. 

The works of Tacitus are his Germantaj a treatise on the 
manners and customs of the Germans ; the Life of Agricola, his 
History, and his Annals. All of these are most admirable pro- 
ductions, polished and graceful narratives, full of entertainment 
and instruction. His Germania, written, it is thought by some, 
out of the fulness of knowledge derived from personal observation 
through service or residence on the Rhenish frontier, gives us the 
fullest information that we possess respecting the manners, beliefs, 
and social arrangements of our barbarian ancestors while they 
were yet living beneath their native forests. Tacitus dwells with 
delight upon the simple life of the uncivilized Germans, and sets 
their virtues in strong contrast with the immoraUties of the refined 
and cultured Romans. - His treatise on the life and campaigns 
of Agricola, his father-in-law, is pronounced one of the most 
admirable biographies in the entire round of literature. It gives 
a most vivid and picturesque portrayal of the conquest of Britain 
and the establishment of Roman authority in that remote island. 
The History and Annals cover the reigns of some of the best 
and some of the worst of the rulers of the early empire. The 
hot indignation of the virtuous and patriotic historian, poured 
out in scathing invective against a Nero and a Domitian, has 
caused his name to be frequently placed with those of Persius, 
Juvenal, and the other Roman satirists. 



SCIENCE, ETHICS, AND PHIIOSOPIIY. 207 

Suetonius (a.d. 75-160) was the biographer of the Twelve 
Caesars. It is to him that we are indebted for very many of the 
details of the lives of these early emperors. The picture which 
he draws is painted in dark colors, yet it is doubtless in the main 
a fairly reliable portraiture of some of the most detestable tyrants 
that ever disgraced a throne. 
-^ Science, Ethics, and Philosophy. — Under this head may be 
grouped the names of Varro, Seneca, Pliny the Elder and Pliny 
the Younger, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Quintilian, and Phsedrus. 

Varro (116-26 B.C.) belongs to the later years of the republic. 
His almost universal knowledge has earned for him the title of 
"the most learned of the Romans." He witnessed the terrific 
scenes of the days of Sulla and Marius, of Pompey and Caesar, of 
Octavius and Antony. He himself was among the proscribed in 
the lists of the cruel x-\ntony, and his magnificent villas — for he 
had immense wealth — were confiscated. Augustus gave him 
back his farms, but could not restore his library, which had 
perished in the sack of his villas. Like many another in those 
turbulent times, when he saw the hopeless ruin of the republic 
and the establishment of despotism in its place, he sought solace 
in the pursuit of literature. Almost the entire circle of letters 
was adorned by his versatile pen : he is said to have written five 
hundred books. His most valuable production, however, was a 
work on agriculture, a sort of hand-book for the Italian farmer. 

Seneca (about a.d. 1-65), moralist and philosopher, has already 
come to our notice as the tutor of Nero. The act of his life 
which has been most severely condemed was the defence which 
he made of his master before the Senate for the tyrant's mur- 
der of his mother, Agrippina. Nero, requited but poorly the 
infamous service. Seneca possessed an enormous fortune, esti- 
mated at 300,000,000 sesterces, which the ever-needy emperor 
coveted ; he accordingly accused him of taking part in a con- 
spiracy against his fife, ordered his death, and confiscated his 
estates. The philosopher met his fate calmly. Upon receiv- 
ing the decree of his master, he opened the veins of his body, and 



208 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

died in his warm bath, whither he had retired in order that the 
flow of the blood might be accelerated, for it had become sluggish 
from age. 

As a philosopher Seneca belonged to the school of the Stoics. 

He wrote many essays and let- 
ters, the latter intended for pub- 
lication, containing lofty maxims 
of wisdom and virtue, which he 
certainly did not always follow in 
the conduct of his own life. He 
was a disbeliever in the popular 
religion of his countrymen, and 
\ entertained conceptions of God 
I and his moral government not 
very different from the doctrines 
of Socrates. So admirable are 
his ethical teachings that it has 
been maintained the philosopher 

SENECA. - ^ . n c 

came under the mnuences oi 
Christianity; and several letters addressed to the apostle Paul, 
which are still extant, were formerly referred to as proof of this fact ; 
but these have been shown to be spurious. Besides his ethical 
and philosophical writings, Seneca composed ten tragedies, de- 
signed rather for reading than for the stage. Seneca's name will 
ever be noted as that of a great teacher of virtue and morality to 
a corrupt age, whose influence upon himself all his philosophy 
could not wholly resist. 

Pliny the Elder (a.d. 23-79) i^ almost the only Roman who won 
renown as an investigator of the phenomena of nature. His hfe 
was a marvellously busy one, every moment being filled with 
public services, with observations, study, and writing. He seldom' 
walked, but rode or was carried in a litter, that he might not lose 
a moment from his studies. At his meals and toilet he had a 
slave read to him. 

Pliny lost his life in an over-zealous pursuit of science. He was 




SCIENCE, ETHICS, AND PHILOSOPHY. 209 

in command of the Roman fleet at Misenum when occurred the 
eruption of Vesuvius which resulted in the destruction of Pom- 
peii and Herculaneum. Subduing the fears of his officers, who 
wished to flee from the scene, PHny employed the ships of his 
fleet in rescuing the inhabitants of the coast. His vessels, while 
engaged in this work, were covered with the hot ashes that dark- 
ened the air and fell incessantly in heavy showers. In order to 
gain a better view of the mountain, the philosopher ordered his 
sailors to put him ashore ; but unfortunately he ventured too near 
the volcano, and was overcome and suffocated by the sulphurous 
exhalations. 

The only work of Pliny that has been spared to us is his Natu- 
ral History, embracing thirty-seven volumes. It is a monument 
of untiring industry and extensive research. It contains 20,000 
citations from more than two thousand volumes of various authors. 
It was the Roman Encyclopaedia, containing all that the world then 
knew respecting astronomy, geography, botany, zoology, medicine, 
and the arts of painting and statuary. In this work be defends the 
theory of the sphericity of the earth, and declares that it is a globe 
hanging, by what means supported he knows not, in vacant space. 

In connection with the name of Pliny the Elder must be men- 
tioned that of his nephew, Pliny the Younger. He succeeded to 
the estate, and to somewhat of the fame, of his celebrated uncle. 
He was a man of letters, being a graceful writer and orator, yet 
was not a naturalist like the first Pliny. He was a servile courtier, 
and wrote a eulogy upon the character of the Emperor Trajan 
which is filled with the most fulsome praise. The large number 
of his epistles, poems, histories, and tragedies indicate his industry 
and untiring devotion to letters. 

Marcus Aurelius the emperor and Epictetus the slave hold the 
first places among the ethical teachers of Rome. The former 
wrote his Meditations ; but the latter, like Socrates, committed 
nothing to writing, so that we know of the character of his teach- 
ings only through one of his pupils, Arrian by name. Epictetus 
was for many years a slave at the capital, but, securing in some 



210 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

way his freedom, he became a teacher of philosophy. Domitian 
having ordered all philosophers to leave Rome, Epictetus fled to 
Epirus, where he established a school in which he taught the doc- 
trines of Stoicism. His name is inseparably linked with that of 
Marcus Aurelius as a teacher of the purest system of ethics that 
is found outside of Christianity. Epictetus and Aurelius were the 
last eminent representatives and expositors of the philosophy of 
Zeno. They were the last of the Stoics. In them Stoicism bore 
its consummate flower and fruit. The doctrines of the Galilean 
were even then fast taking possession of the Roman world ; for, 
giving more place to the affections and all the natural instincts, 
they readily won the hearts of men from the cold, unsympathetic 
abstractions of the Grecian sage. 

Quintilian (a.d. 40-118) was the one great grammarian and 
rhetorician that the Roman race produced. For about a quarter 
of a century he was the most noted lecturer at Rome on educa- 
tional and literary subjects. One of the booksellers of the capital, 
after much persuasion, finally prevailed upon the teacher to pub- 
lish his lectures. They were received with great favor, and Quin- 
tilian's Institutes have never ceased to be studied and copied by 
all succeeding writers on education and rhetoric.^ 

1 The allusions which we have made to the publishing trade suggest a word 
respecting ancient pubHshers and books. There were in Rome several pub- 
lishing houses, which, in their day, enjoyed a wide reputation and conducted 
a very extended business. " Indeed, the antique book-trade," says Guhl, *' was 
carried on on a scale hardly surpassed by modern times. . . . The place of 
the press in our literature was taken by the slaves." Through practice they 
gained surprising facility as copyists, and books were multiplied with great 
rapidity. And, as to the books themselves, we must bear in mind that a book 
in the ancient sense was simply a roll of manuscript or parchment, and con- 
tained nothing like the amount of matter held by an ordinary modern volume. 
Thus Caesar's Gallic Wars, which makes a single volume of moderate size with 
us, made eight Roman books. Most of the houses of the wealthy Romans 
contained libraries. The collection of Sammanicus Serenus, tutor of Gordian, 
numbered 62,000 books. There were twenty-nine public libraries in Rome 
established by the emperors. 



WRITERS OF THE EARLY LATIN CHURCH. 211 

During the reign of Tiberius, Phsedrus, the Roman ^sop, 
wrote his fables, which were, for the most part, translations or 
imitations of the productions of his Grecian master. A little 
later, in the reign of Titus, Frontinus wrote a valuable work on 
the Roman system of engineering, and a still more interesting 
book on the Roman aqueducts. This latter work gives us much 
interesting information respecting those stupendous structures. 

Writers of the Early Latin Church. — The Christian authors 
of the first three centuries, like the writers of the New Testament, 
employed the Greek, that being the language of learning and 
culture. Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, Justin, 
Origen, Eusebius, Chrysostom, and Basil are a few of the cele- 
brated fathers of the early Church who used in their works the 
language of Athens. Of these Chrysostom ("golden- mouthed"), 
so called on account of his persuasive oratory, was perhaps the 
most renowned. 

But, though the Greek language was first chosen as the medium 
for the dissemination of Christian doctrines, as the Latin tongue 
gradually came into more general use throughout the extended 
provinces of the Roman empire, the Christian authors naturally 
begun to use the same in the composition of their works. Hence 
almost all the writings of the fathers of the Church produced 
during the last centuries of the empire were composed in Latin. 
From among the many names that adorn the Church literature 
of this period, we shall select only two for special mention, — St. 
Jerome and St. Augustine. 

Jerome (a.d. 342-420) was a native of Pannonia. He studied 
at Rome and at Constantinople, and travelled through all the 
provinces of the empire, from Britain to Palestine. For many 
years he led a monastic life at Bethlehem. He is especially held 
in memory by his translation of the Scriptures into Latin. This 
version is known as the Vulgate, and is the one still used in the 
Roman Catholic Church. 

Aurelius Augustine (a.d. 354-430) was born near Carthage, in 
Africa. He was the most eminent writer of the Christian Church 



212 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

during the later Roman period. His numerous works — sermons, 
commentaries, and epistles — form a perfect library of themselves ; 
but his fame rests chiefly on his Confessions and his City of God., 
two of the most remarkable productions of all Christian writings. 
The larger part of the Confessions is a touching narrative of the 
struggles of soul that resulted in his conversion. This work is a 
classic in Christian literature, and has been translated into almost 
every language in which the Bible is read. The City of God is a 
truly wonderful work. The author writes with the fervor of an 
Isaiah, with the prophetic vision of the Exile of Patmos. The 
book was written just when the Goths and Vandals were taking 
possession of the empire, when Rome was becoming the spoil of 
the barbarians. It was designed to answer the charge of the 
Pagans that Christianity, turning the hearts of the people away 
from the worship of the ancient gods, was the cause of the calam- 
ities that were befalling the Roman state. It symbolizes Rome 
as the city of the world, which only presumptuously can call itself 
the " Eternal City " ; while under the figure of the City of God is 
portrayed the enduring nature of the Christian Church, the New 
Jerusalem, the truly "Eternal City." 

Roman Law and Law Literature. — Although the Latin writ- 
ers in all the departments of literary effort which we have so far 
reviewed did much valuable work, yet, as we have had occasion 
to repeat frequently, the Roman intellect in all these directions 
was under Greek guidance ; its work was imitative, and through- 
out all its course unmarked by any great originality, boldness, or 
creative energy. But in another department it was different. We 
mean, of course, the field of legal and political science. Here the 
Romans ceased to be pupils and became teachers. Here they 
are no longer the servile imitators of the excellences of others, — 
although they do not refuse helpful instruction, — but they become 
creators and masters. Nations, like men, have their mission. 
Rome's mission was to give laws to the world. 

Our knowledge of the law-system of the Romans begins with 
the legislation of the Twelve Tables, about 450 B.C. The laws en- 



ROMAN LAW AND LAW LLTERATURE. 213 

grossed upon these tablets must be regarded as being in the main 
a systemized collection of the rules and regulations that had grown 
up during many preceding centuries. Throughout all the republi- 
can period the laws of the state were growing less harsh and cruel, 
-less invidious in their distinctions between the higher and lower 
classes of the community, and were gradually effacing the marks 
of their barbarous origin and becoming more liberal and scientific. 
From lOO B.C. to a.d. 250 lived and wrote the most famous of the 
Roman jurists and law-writers, who created the most remarkable 
law literature ever produced by any people. The great unvarying 
principles that underlie and regulate all social and political rela- 
tions were examined, illustrated, and clearly enunciated. Gains, 
Ulpian, Paulus, Papinian, and Pomponius are among the most 
renowned writers who, during the period just indicated, enriched 
by their writings and decisions this branch of Latin literature. 

In the year a.d. 527 Justinian became emperor of the Eastern 
Roman Empire. He almost immediately entered upon the work 
of collecting and arranging in a systematic manner the immense 
mass of Roman laws and the writings of the jurists. The under- 
taking was like the labor of the Twelve Tables, only infinitely 
greater. Since those were set up in the Forum a thousand years 
had passed. During these centuries the limits of Latium had 
expanded until they embraced three continents ; and over all 
these regions, with their motley populations, Rome had extended 
her authority and her laws. There was no possible relation of 
life that was not recognized and dealt with by the Roman govern- 
ment. Men's relations to the family, to the city, to the state, to 
the gods, were clearly defined and legislated upon and decreed 
about by senate, emperors, and municipal magistrates. During 
all these centuries, too, the best intellects of the nation had been 
busy annotating and commenting upon all this growing mass of 
legislation, and producing whole libraries of learned works respect- 
ing the science of jurisprudence and government in general. 
Bearing these things in mind, we can form some faint conception 
of the enormous amount of material of a legal character that had 



214 LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW. 

been created by the time of the subversion of the empire of the 
West. 

Justinian committed the task of collating, revising, condertsing, 
and harmonizing all this matter to the celebrated lawyer Tribo- 
nian, with whom were associated during the course of the work 
fourteen assistants. This commission began its labors in the year 
A.D. 528, and in five years the task was completed, and given to 
the world in the form of the Corpus Juris Civilis, or " Body of 
the Civil Law." This consisted of three parts, — the Code, the 
Pandects, and the histitutes} The Code was a revised and 
compressed collection of all the laws, instructions to judicial 
officers, and opinions on legal subjects, promulgated by the differ- 
ent emperors since the time of Hadrian ; the Pandects (all-con- 
taining) were a digest or abridgment of the writings, opinions, 
and decisions of the most eminent of the old Roman jurists and 
lawyers. Two thousand books of thirty-nine different authors, all 
of whom lived between 100 B.C. and a.d. 250, were collected, 
and from this enormous mass of manuscript were culled 9000 
extracts, which contained the sum and substance of all that three 
centuries and more of law-scholars had thought and written. 
These excerpts were arranged under their proper titles, and filled 
fifty books. This part of the Corpus Juris is by far the most 
important and interesting, as it deals with the principles of legal 
science, and has to do with private law, which touches the trans- 
actions of every-day Hfe, while the Code is mainly concerned with 
public law. The Institutes were a condensed edition of the Pan- 
dects, and were intended to form an elementary text-book for the 
use of students. 

When the great work was completed, copies were furnished to 
all the law-schools of Constantinople, Rome, Alexandria, Berytus, 
Caesarea, and other cities of the empire. It was the sole text- 
book of the youth engaged in the study of the law. 

1 A later work, called the Novels, comprised the laws of Justinian subse- 
quent to the completion of the Code. 



EDUCATION. 215 

The Body of the Roman Law thus preserved and transmitted 
was the great contribution of the Latin intellect to civilization. 
It has exerted a profound influence upon all the legal systems of 
modern Europe. During the Dark Ages its study abated j but 
early in the twelfth century there was a great revival of interest 
in it in all the law-schools of Italy, especially at Bologna. As a 
result of this fresh examination of the admirable system of juris- 
prudence of ancient Rome, the Justinian Code became the 
groundwork of the present law-system of Italy, of Southern 
France, and of Germany. It also became auxiliary law in North- 
ern France and in Spain, while in England the laws of our Teu- 
tonic ancestors were by it greatly influenced and modified.^ Thus 
has Rome given laws to the nations — thus does the once little 
Palatine city of the Tiber still rule the world. The religion of 
Judea, the arts of Greece, and the laws of Rome are three very 
real and potent elements in modern civilization. 

SOCLA.L Life. 

Education. — Roman children were subject in an extraordinary 
manner to their father {pate7'familias) . They were regarded as 
his property, and their life and liberty were in general at his abso- 
lute disposal. This power he exercised by usually drowning at 
birth the deformed or sickly child. Even the married son re- 
mained legally subject to his father, who could banish him, sell 
him as a slave, or even put him to death. It should be said, 
however, that the right of putting to death was seldom exercised, 
and that in the time of the empire the law put some limitations 
upon it. 

The education of the Roman boy diff"ered from that of the 
Greek youth in being more practical. The laws of the Twelve 
Tables were committed to memory ; and rhetoric and oratory 
were given special attention, as a mastery of the art of public 

^ Hadley's Introduction to Roman laxu, p. 25 et seq. 



216 SOCIAL LIFE. 

speaking was an almost indispensable acquirement for the Roman 
citizen who aspired to take a prominent part in the affairs of 
state. 

After the conquest of Magna Grsecia and of Greece, the Romans 
were brought into closer relations than had hitherto existed with 
Greek culture. The Roman youths were taught the language of 
Athens, often to the neglect, it appears, of their native tongue ; 
for we hear the censor Cato complaining that the boys of his 
time spoke Greek before they could use their own language. 
Young men belonging to families of means not unusually went to 
Greece, just as the graduates of our schools go to Europe, to finish 
their education. Many of the most prominent statesmen of Rome, 
as, for instance, Cicero and Julius Caesar, received the advantages 
of this higher training in the schools of Greece. 

Somewhere between the age of fourteen and eighteen the boy 
exchanged his purple-hemmed toga, or gown, for one of white 
wool, which was in all places and at all times the significant badge 
of Roman citizenship and Roman equality.^ 

Social Position of Woman, — Until after her marriage, the 
daughter of the family was kept in almost Oriental seclusion. 
Marriage gave her a certain freedom. She might now be present 
at the races of the circus and the various shows of the theatre and 
the arena — a privilege rarely accorded to her before marriage. In 
the early virtuous period of the Roman state, divorce was unusual, 
but in later and more- degenerate times it became very common. 
The husband had the right to divorce his wife for the slightest 
cause, or for no cause at all. In this disregard of the sanctity of 
the family relation may doubtless be found one cause of the 
degeneracy and failure of the Roman stock. 

Public Amusements. — The entertainments of the theatre, the 
games of the circus, and the combats of the amphitheatre were 

1 With the exception of the chief magistrates and the senators, every citi- 
zen, whether rich or poor, patrician or plebeian, was compelled, whenever he 
appeared in public, to wear the same white, unadorned mantle. Thus was 
symbolized the equality of the citizens. 



PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Ill 

the three principal pubHc amusements of the Romans. These 
entertainments in general increased in popularity as liberty de- 
clined, the great festive gatherings at the various places of amuse- 
ment taking the place of the political assemblies of the republic. 
The public exhibitions under the empire were, in a certain sense, 
the compensation which the emperors offered the people for their 
surrender of the right of participation in public affairs, and the 
people were content to accept the exchange. 

Tragedy was never held in high esteem at Rome : the people 
saw too much real tragedy in the exhibitions of the amphitheatre 
to care much for the make-beheve tragedies of the stage. The 
entertainments of the theatres usually took the form of comedies, 
farces, and pantomimes. The last were particularly popular, both 
because the vast size of the theatres made it quite impossible for 
the actor to make his voice heard throughout the structure, and 
for the reason that the language of signs was the only language 
that could be readily understood by an audience made up of so 
many different nationalities as composed a Roman assemblage. 

More important and more popular than the entertainments of 
the theatre were the various games, especially the chariot races, of 
the circus. But surpassing in their terrible fascination all other 
public amusements were the animal-baitings and the gladiatorial 
combats of the arena. 

The beasts required for the baitings were secured in different 
parts of the world, and transported to Rome and the other cities 
of the empire at an enormous expense. The wildernesses of 
Northern Europe furnished bears and wolves ; Africa contributed 
lions, crocodiles, and leopards ; Asia, elephants and tigers. These 
creatures were pitted against one another in every conceivable 
way. Often a promiscuous multitude would be turned loose in 
the arena at once. But even the terrific scene that then ensued, 
became at last too tame to stir the blood of the Roman populace. 
Hence a new species of show was introduced, and grew rapidly 
into favor with the spectators of the amphitheatre. This was the 
gladiatorial combat. 



218 



SOCIAL LIFE. 



The Gladiatorial Combats. — Gladiatorial games seem to have 
had their origin in Etruria, whence they were brought to Rome. 
It was a custom among the early Etruscans to slay prisoners upon 
the warrior's grave, it being thought that the spirit of the dead 
dehghted in the blood of such victims. In time the condemned 
prisoners were allowed to fight and kill one another, this being 
deemed more humane than their cold-blooded slaughter. Thus it 
happened that sentiments of humanity gave rise to an institution 
which, afterwards perverted, became the most inhuman of any 
that ever existed among a civilized people. 

The first gladiatorial spectacle at Rome was presented by two 
sons at the funeral of their father, in the year 264 B.C. This exhi- 
bition was arranged in one of the forums, as there were at that 

time no amphitheatres in 
existence. From this time 
the public taste for this 
species of entertainment 
grew rapidly, and by the 
beginning of the imperial 
period had mounted into 
a perfect passion. It was 
now no longer the manes of 
the dead, but the spirits 
of the living, that they were 
ntended to appease. At 
first the combatants were slaves, captives, or condemned criminals ; 
but at last knights, senators, and even women descended into the 
arena. Training-schools were estabhshed at Rome, Capua, Ra- 
venna, and other cities. Free citizens often sold themselves to the 
keepers of these seminaries ; and to them flocked desperate men 
of all classes, and ruined spendthrifts of the noblest patrician 
houses. Slaves and criminals were encouraged to become pro- 
ficient in this art by the promise of freedom if they survived the 
combats beyond a certain number of years. 

Sometimes the gladiators fought in pairs ; again, great compa- 




GLADIATORS, (After an ancient Mosaic.) 



THE GLADIATORIAL COMBATS. 219 

nies engaged at once in the deadly fray. They fought in chariots, 
on horseback, on foot — in all the ways that soldiers were accus- 
tomed to fight in actual battle. The contestants were armed with 
lances, swords, daggers, tridents, and every manner of weapon. 
Some were provided with nets and lassos, with which they entan- 
gled their adversaries, and then slew them. 

The life of a wounded gladiator was in the hands of the audi- 
ence. If in response to his appeal for mercy, which was made by 
outstretching the forefinger, the spectators reached out their hands 
with thumbs turned down, that indicated that his prayer had been 
heard and that the sword was to be sheathed ; but if they ex- 
tended their hands with thumbs turned up, that was the signal for 
the victor to complete his work upon his wounded foe. Some- 
times the dying were aroused and forced on to the fight by burn- 
ing with a hot iron. The dead bodies were dragged from the 
arena with hooks, like the carcasses of animals, and the pools of 
blood soaked up with dry sand. 

These shows increased to such an extent that they entirely over- 
shadowed the entertainments of the circus and the theatre. Am- 
bitious officials and commanders arranged such spectacles in order 
to curry favor with the masses ; magistrates were expected to give 
them in connection with the public festivals ; the heads of aspiring 
families exhibited them " in order to acquire social position " ; 
wealthy citizens prepared them as an indispensable feature of a 
fashionable banquet ; the children caught the spirit of their elders 
and imitated them in their plays. The demand for gladiators was 
met by the training-schools : the managers of these hired out 
bands of trained men, that travelled through the country like opera 
troupes among us, and gave exhibitions in private houses or in the 
provincial amphitheatres. 

The rivalries between ambitious leaders during the later years 
of the republic tended greatly to increase the number of gladiato- 
rial shows, as liberality in arranging these spectacles was a sure 
passport to popular favor. It was reserved for the emperors, how- 
ever, to exhibit them on a truly imperial scale. Titus, upon the 



\ 



220 SOCIAL LIFE. 

dedication of the Flavian Amphitheatre, provided games, mostly 
gladiatorial combats, that lasted one hundred days. Trajan cele- 
brated his victories with shows that continued still longer, in the 
progress of which 10,000 gladiators fought upon the arena, and 
more than 10,000 wild beasts were slain. (For the suppression 
of the gladiatorial games, see p. 162.) 

State Distribution of Corn. — The free distribution of corn at 
Rome has been characterized as the "leading fact of Roman life." 
It will be recalled that this pernicious practice had its beginnings 
in the legislation of Gains Gracchus (see p. 81). Just before the 
establishment of the empire, over 300,000 Roman citizens were 
recipients of this state bounty. In the time of the Antonines the 
number is asserted to have been even larger. The corn for this 
enormous distribution was derived in large part from a grain tribute 
exacted of the African and other corn-producing provinces. The 
evils that resulted from this misdirected state charity can hardly 
be overstated. Idleness and all its accompanying vices were fos- 
tered to such a degree that we probably shall not be wrong in 
enumerating the practice as one of the most prominent causes of 
the demoralization of society at Rome under the emperors. 

Slavery. — A still more demoralizing element in Roman life 
than that of the state largesses of corn, was the institution of 
slavery. The number of slaves in the Roman state under the 
later republic and the earlier empire was probably as great or 
even greater than the nnmber of freemen. The love of ostenta- 
tion led to the multiplication of offices in the households of the 
wealthy, and the employment of a special slave for every different 
kind of work. Thus there was the slave called the sandalio, whose 
sole duty it was to care for his master's sandals ; and another, 
called the nomenclator, whose exclusive business it was to accom- 
pany his master when he went upon the stteet, and give him the 
names of such persons as he ought to recognize. The price of 
slaves varied from a few dollars to ten or twenty thousand dollars, 
— these last figures being of course exceptional. Greek slaves 



SLA VER Y. 221 

were the most valuable, as their lively intelligence rendered them 
serviceable in positions calling for special talent. 

The slave class was chiefly recruited, as in Greece, by war, and 
by the practice of kidnapping. Some of the outlying provinces 
in Asia and Africa were almost depopulated by the slave-hunters. 
Delinquent tax-payers were often sold as slaves, and frequently 
poor persons sold themselves into servitude. 

Slaves were treated better under the empire than under the later 
republic — a change to be attributed doubtless to the humanizing 
influence of the Stoical philosophy and of Christianity. The 
feeling entertained towards this unfortunate class in the later 
republican period is illustrated by Varro's classification of slaves 
as " vocal agricultural implements," and again by Cato the Elder's 
recommendation that old and worn-out slaves be sold, as a matter 
of economy. Sick and hopelessly infirm slaves were taken to an 
island in the Tiber and left there to die of starvation and exposure. 
In many cases, as a measure of precaution, the slaves were forced 
to work in chains, and to sleep in subterranean prisons. Their 
bitter hatred towards their masters, engendered by harsh treat- 
ment, is witnessed by the well-known proverb, " As many enemies 
as slaves," and by the servUe revolts and wars of the republican 
period. But from the first century of the empire there is observ- 
able a growing sentiment of humanity towards the bondsman. 
Imperial edicts take away from the master the right to kill his 
slave, or to sefl him to the trader in gladiators, or even to treat 
him with any undue severity. This marks the beginning of a slow 
reform which in the course of ten or twelve centuries resulted in 
the complete abolition of slavery in Christian Europe. 



INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 



FOR PART SECOND. 



Note. — In the case of words whose correct pronunciation has not seemed clearly indicated 
by their accentuation and syllabication, the sounds of the letters have been denoted thus: a, 
like a in gray; a, like a in have; a, like a in far; e, like ee in/eei; e, like e in end; e and 
ch, like i; <;, like s; g, like j; s, like z. 



A. 

Ac'ti-um, battle of, ii6. 
A'dri-an-o'ple, battle of, 1 60. 
^-ga'tian Islands, naval battle near, 

51- 

yE'mil-i-a'nus, Scipio, 75, 76. 

yE-ne'as, 17. 

iE'qui-ans, 25. 

A-e'ti-us, Roman general, i68. 

A-gric'o-la, 132. 

Agriculture, state of, in Italy, 78-80; 

in Sicily, 77. 
A-grip'pa, M., 176. 
Ag'rip-pi'na, 129. 

Aix-la-Chapelle (aks-la-sha-pel'), 185. 
A-la'ni, 167. 

Al'a-ric, 161, 164, 165, 166. 
Alba Longa, 3, 4, 1 7. 
Al'e-man'ni, 157. 
A-le'si-a, 103. 
Al'li-a, battle of the, 32. 
Alps, Hannibal's passage of, 58. 
Amphitheatres, Roman, 177, 179; 

shows of, 219. 
A-mu'li-us, 17, 18. 
An'cus Mar'ci-us, 6. 
Andalusia (an-da-loo-the'a), 167. 
An'dro-ni'cus, L., 194. 
A'ni-o, river, 183. 
Antioch, city of, 121. 
An-ti'o-chus the Great, 70. 



An'to-ni'nus Pi'us, Roman emperor, 

139- 
Antony, Mark, his oration at Coesar's 

funeral, 1 1 1 ; usurpations of, 112; 

revels with Cleopatra, 115; flees 

from Actium, 116; his death, 116. 
Appian Way, 180. 
Ap'pi-us Clau'di-us Cce'cus, 40. 
Ap'pi-us Clau'di-us, the decemvir, 28. 
A-pu'li-a, I. 

A'quae Sex'ti-ce, battle of, 84, note. 
Aqueducts, Roman, 182. 
Ar-ca'di-us, Eastern Roman emperor, 

160, 161. 
Ar'chi-me'des, 64. 
Architecture, Roman, 175-189. 
A-rim'i-num, 179. 
Ar-min'i-us, 122. 
Ar'no, river, 2. 
Ar-ver'ni, 103. 
As-ca'ni-us, 17. 
At'ti-la, 168, 169. 
Au'fi-dus, river, 2. 
Augurs, college of, at Rome, 13. 
Au'gus-tine, Au-re'li-us, 212. 
Au-gus'tu-lus, last Roman emperor, 

in the West, 171. 
Au-re'li-an, Roman emperor, 150, 
Au-re'li-us, Marcus, Roman emperor, 

140-142, 210. 

Av'en-tine, the, 8. 

223 



224 



INDEX. 



B. 

Ba'den-Ba'den, 185. 

Bai'ae (ba'ye), 129. 

Ba'sil, 212, 

Ben'e-ven'tum, battle of, 40. 

Ber'nard, St., Pass of Little, 58. 

Bes'ti-a, consul, 82. 

Bib'u-lus, 107. 

Bo'H 53 

Bren'nus, 33. 

Britain invaded by Caesar, IOI-103; 
conquered by Claudius, 128; in- 
vaded by the Angles and Saxons, 
167. 

Brun-di'si-um, 106. 

Brut'ti-um, I. 

Brutus, L. Junius, 21. 

Brutus, the liberator, iii, 114. 

Bur-gun 'di-ans, 167. 

Bur'rhus, 129. 

Bu'sen-ti'nus, river, 167. 

By-zan'ti-um, 154, 155. 

C. 

Caesar, Augustus (see Octavius). 

Caesar, Gaius (see Caligula). 

Caesar, Julius, proscribed by Sulla 
91 ; early life, 99; debts, loo; 
forms the First Triumvirate, loi; 
his campaigns in Gaul and Britain, 
loi; crosses the Rubicon, 105; be- 
comes master of Italy, 106; de- 
feats Pompey at Pharsalus, 107; 
in Egypt, 108; defeats Pharnaces, 
108; crushes Pompeians at Thap- 
sus, 108; his triumph, 108; his 
genius as a statesman, 109; his 
death, no; literary works, 206. 

Cae-sa'ri-on, 116. 

Ca-la'bri-a, i. 

Ca-lig'u-la, 127. 



Ca-mil'lus, 2)Z' 
Cam-pa'ni-a, i. 
Can'nae, battle of, 62. 
Can^u-le'i-us, Ga'i-us, 27, note. 
Canuleian Law, 27, note. 
Cap'i-tol-ine hill, 9, 
Capitoline temple, 8, 175, note. 
Ca'pre-se, island of, 126. 
Cap'u-a, 65. 

Car'a-cal'la, Roman emperor, 147. 
Ca-rac'ta'-cus, 129. 

Carthage, 42; empire of, 42; com- 
pared M'itli Rome, 43; destroyed 
by Romans, 75; rebuilt by Julius 
Caesar, 109; made capital of Van- 
dal empire, 167. 
Carthage, New, in Spain, 55. 
Cas^si-us, the liberator, 114. 
Catacombs, Roman, 152. 
Cat'i-line, 98, 99. 
Cato, M. P. Uticensis, 108. 
Cato, the Censor, 73. 
Ca-tul'lus, 197. 
Cat'u-lus, 84. 
Cel'ti-be'ri-ans, 76. 
Censors, Roman, 30. 
Cer-ci'na, island of, 89. 
Chaion (sha'lon'), battle of, 168. 
Charlemagne (shar'le-man'), 185. 
Chinese Wall, 158, note. 
Christ, birth of, 122; crucifixion of, 

126. 
Christian Fathers, the, 212. 
Christians, persecutions of, 130, 137, 

140, 141, 152. 
Christianity, under Constantine, 153, 
155; under Julian the Apostate, 
156; under Jovian, 157; conver- 
sion to, of the Goths, 158; effects 
upon, of the fall of Rome, 166; 
Christianity and the gladiatorial 



INDEX. 



225 



combats, 162; in the provinces, 

137- 
■Chrys'os-tom, 212. 

Cicero, Marcus Tullius, 95, 99, 113; 

his works, 204. 
Cim'bri, 83. 
Cin'cin-na'tus, 25. 
Cin'e-as, 39. 
Cin'na, 89. 
Cir-ce'i-i (se'ye), 88. 
Cir-cen'sian games, 15. 
Cir'cus Max'i-mus, 8, 176. 
Civil war, between Caesar and Pom- 

pey, 106 ; between Marius and 

Sulla, 87. 
Claudian aqueduct, 183. 
Claudius, Roman emperor, 128. 
Clement, of Rome, 212. 

of Alexandria, 212. 
Cle'o-pa'tra, 108, 115, 116, 117. 
■Glo-a'ca Maxima, 7. 
■€o'cles, Ho-ra'ti-us, 19. 
Col'la-ti'nus, Tar-quin'i-us, 21. 
Colonies, Roman, 41, note. 

Latin, 41, note. 
Col'os-se'um, 133, 178. 
•€o-mi'ti-a centuriata, 9, 
curiata, 5. 
tributa, 25, note. 
Co-mi'ti-um, the, 7. 
Com'mo-dus, Roman emperor, 144. 
Constantine II., 155. 
Constantine the Great, 153-155. 
Constantinople, city of, 155. 
Con-stan'ti-us I., 153; II., 155, 156, 
Consuls, Roman, first, 21. 
Cor-fin'i-um, 86. 
Corinth, destruction of, 71. 
Co'ri-o-la'nus, 24. 
Corn, free distribution of, at Rome, 

221. 



Cor-ne'li-a, mother of the Gracchi, 81. 

Cor'pus Ju'ris Ci-vi'lis, 213-216. 

Cor'si-ca, 52. 

Council, first, of Church, 154. 

Cras'sus, M. L., 100, 103. 

Cre-mo'na, 54. 

Cu'ri-as, 4. 

Cu'ri-a'ti-i, 19. 

Cu'ri-o, 107, 177. 

Cyn'os-ceph'a-lae, battle of, 69. 

D. 

Decemvirs, first board, 26; second, 

28. 
De'ci-us, Roman emperor, 149, 
Dictator, office of, 21, note. 
Di'o-cle'ti-an, Roman emperor, 151- 

153- 
Do-mi'ti-an, Roman emperor, 134. 
Drama, the, among the Romans, 193- 

195- 
Drep'a-na, defeat of Romans at, 49, n. 
Dru'sus, 86. 
Du-il'li-us, C, 46. 
Dyr-ra'chi-um, 107. 

E. 
Eastern Roman Empire, 161. 
Ec-no'mus, naval battle of, 47, note. 
E-des'sa, 149, note. 
Education among the Romans, 216. 
El'a-gab'a-lus, 148. 
En'ni-us, 194, 
Ep'ic-te'tus, 210. 
E-tru'ri-a, i. 
E-trus'cans, 3. 
Eu-dox'i-a, 170. 
Eu'me-nes, 71. 

F. 
Fa'bi-us Quintus, 56. 
Fa'bi-us, the delayer, 69. 



226 



INDEX. 



Fa-bric'i-us, 40. 
Fas'ces, 21. 

Flam'i-ni'nus, consul, 69, 70. 
Forum, Roman, 7. 
Fron-ti'nus, 212. 

G. 

Galba, Roman emperor, 131. 

Ga-le'ri-us, Roman emperor, 153. 

Gal'li-a Cis'al-pi'na, i. 

Gallic wars, 1 01- 103. 

Gauls settle in Italy, 3; sack Rome, 
31; war with, 53; conquered by 
Caesar, loi. 

Gen'ser-ic (Geiseric), king of the 
Vandals, 170. 

Ger-man'i-cus, 124. 

Ge'ta, Roman emperor, 147. 

Gladiatorial combats, 219; suppres- 
sion of, 162. 

Gladiators, war of the, 93. 

Golden house of Nero, 131, 186. 

Gor'dian, Roman emperor, 149. 

Goths, cross the Danube, 158. (See 
Alaric.) 

(Srac'chi, reforms of, 80. 

Gracchus, Gaius, 81. 

Tiberius, 80. 

Gra'ti-an, Roman emperor, 158, 159, 
160. 

Great fire at Rome, 130. 



H. 

Ha'dri-an, Roman emperor, 137-139. 

Hadrian's Mole, 189. 

Ha-mil'car, 50, 54, 55. 

Han'ni-bal, his vow, 55; attacks 
Saguntum, 55; crosses the Pyr- 
enees, 58; crosses the Alps, 58; 



his policy in Italy, 59 ; at Capua, 

64; before Rome, 65; defeated at 

Za'ma, 68; his death, 72. 
Han'no, Carthaginian admiral, 51. 
Ha-rus'pi-ces, art of the, 13. 
Has'dru-bal, Hannibal's brother, 65, 

66, 67. 
Has'dru-bal, son-in-law of Hamilcar, 

55- 
Hel-ve'tians, 102. 

Her'a-cle'a, battle of, 39. 

Heralds, college of, at Rome, 14. 

Her'cu-la'ne-um, 134. 

Her'mann (see Arminius). 

Her'u-li, 171. 

Hi'e-ro, king of Syracuse, 45, 64. 

Ho-no'ri-us, Roman emperor, 160, 

162, 164. 

Horace, 2or. 

Ho-ra'ti-i, the, 19. 

Hor-ten'si-us, 204. 

Hun-ga'ri-ans, 169. 

Huns, 158, 168, 169. 

I. 

I'a-pyg'i-ans, 3, note. 
Il-lyr'i-an corsairs, 53. 
Italians, 3. 

Italy, divisions of, i ; early inhabitants 
of, 3- 



Ja-nic'u-lum, the, 20, 
Ja'nus, Temple of, 12. 
Jerome, 212. 
Jerusalem, 97, 132, 139. 
Jovian, Roman emperor, 157. 
Ju-gur'tha, war with, 81. 
Julian the Apostate, 156. 
Ju-li-a'nus, Did'i-us, 146. 



INDEX. 



227 



Juno, 4. 

Jupiter, 1 1 . 

Jus-tin'i-an, emperor, 214, 215. 

Justin Martyr, 141. 

Ju've-nal, 203. 



Lab'a-rum, the, 154, note. 
Latin cities, revolt of, 37. 

colonies, note 41. 

language, spread of, 191 ; used 
by early Christian writers, 212. 
Latins, 3. 

La-ti'nus, King, 17. 
La'ti-um, i, 3. 
La-vin'i-a, 17. 
La-vin'i-um, 17. 
Lep'i-dus, 112, 113, 114. 
Lib'y-ans, 56. 
Licinian laws, 35. 
Li-cin'i-us, C, 35. 
Li-gu'ri-a, I. 
Ligurians, 3, note. 
Li'ris, river, 2. 

Literature, Roman, 189-216^^ 

Liv'i-us, M., consul, 66'. 
Livy, the historian, 206. 
Lon-gi'nus, 150. 
Longus, L. Sempronius, 59. 
Lu'can, 203, note. 
Lu-ca'ni-a, i. 
Luc'ca, 103. 
Lu-cil'i-us, poet, 196. 
Lu-cre'ti-us, 196. 
Lu-cul'lus, the consul, 97. 
Lu'si-ta'ni-a, 93. 

M. 

Ma-cri'nus, Roman emperor, 148. 
Mag-ne'si-a, battle of, 70. 



Magyers (mod'yors), 169. 
Ma-har'bal, 63. 
Mam'er-tines, 44, note. 
Manlius, 33, 34. 
Mar-cel'lus, Marcus C, 64. 
Mar-cel'lus, nephew of Augustus, 

122. 
Ma'ri-us, Ga'i-us, 83-85, 87-90. 
Mars, II. 
Marsic War, 85. 
Martial, 203. 

Mas'i-nis'sa, king of Numidia, 73. 
Max-en'ti-us, 188. 

Max-im'i-an, emperor, 151, 152, 153. 
Max'i-min, 149. 
Mes-sa'na, 44. 

Me-tau'rus, battle of the, 66. 
Military roads, Roman, 1 79-182. 
Military tribunes, 28. 
Minerva, 11. 
Min-tur'nse, 88. 
Mi-nu'ci-us, co-dictator with Fabius, 

61. 
Mith'ra-da'tes the Great, 87, 90, 97. 
Mu'ci-us ScKv'o-la, 20. 
Mum'mi-us, consul, 71. 
Mun'da, battle of, 108, note. 
My'lae, naval battle near, 46. 

N. 

Nse'vi-us, 194. 

Ne-pos, Cornelius, 206, note. 

Nero, C. Claudius, consul, 67. 

Nero, Roman emperor, 1 29-1 31. 

Nerva, Roman emperor, 135. 

Ni-^se'a, 154. 

No'men-cla'tor, 221. 

Nu-man'ti-a, 75. 

Nu'ma, 6. 

Nu'mi-tor, 17, 18. 



228 



INDEX. 



o. 

Oc-ta'vi-us, 113; enters Second Tri- 
umvirate, 113; divides the world 
with Antony, 114; defeats Antony 
at battle of Actium, 116; reign of, 
119-123. 

Od'e-na'tus, 150. 

Od'o-va'ker, 171, 172. 

Op'ti-mates, 80. 

Oracles, 13. 

0-res'tes, 171. 

Or'i-gen, 212. 

Os'tro-goths, 159. 

O'tho, Roman emperor, 131. 

Ov'id, 201. 



Pal'a-tine (tin), 8, 

Palmyra, 150. 

Pandects, 215. 

Pa-nor'mus, battle of, 48. 

Pan'the-on, the, 176. 

Pa-pin'i-an, 147, 214. 

Parthians, 104. 

Patricians, 4, 5. 

Paulus, Roman jurist, 214. 

Paulus Lucius ^-mil'i-us, 62, note. 

Per'ga-mus, 71. 

Per'seus, king of Macedonia, 71. 

Per'si-us, 203. 

Per'ti-nax, Roman emperor, 146. 

Phse'drus, 212. 

Phar'na-ces, 98, 108. 

Phar'sa-lus, battle of, 107. 

Philip, Roman emperor, 149. 

Phi-lip 'pi, battle of, 1 14. 

Pi-ce'num, i. 

Pictor, Fabius, 205. 

Picts, 167. 

Pirates, defeated by Pompey, 96. 



Pis-to'ri-a, 99. 

Pla-cen'ti-a, 54. 

Plau'tus, 195. 

Plebeians (ple-be'yans), 5; first se- 
cession of, 22; admitted to the 
consulship, 34. 

Pliny the Elder, 209 : the Younger, 

137- 
Poe'ni, 44, note. 

Pol'y-carp, 141. 

Pompeii (pom-pa'yee), 134, note. 

Pompey the Great, in Spain, 93; de- 
feats gladiators, 94; defeats pirates, 
96; conducts the Mithradatic war, 
97; conquers Syria, 97 ; his triumph, 
98; enters the triumvirate, loi; 
receives the government of Spain, 
104; seeks popularity, 104; flees 
before Caesar into Greece, 106; 
defeated at Pharsalus, 107; his 
death, 107. 

Pompey, Gnse'us, 108, note. 
Sextus, 108, note. 

Pom-po'ni-us, Roman jurist, 214. 

Pontiffs, college of, at Rome, 13. 

Pon'tine marshes, 109. 

Por-sen'na, king of Clusium, 19, 20. 

Por'tus Ro-ma'nus, 129. 

Posilippo (po-se-lep'po), grotto of 
the, 181. 

Prse-to'ri-an guard, formation of, 123; 
disbanded by Severus, 146. 

Pro-per'ti-us, 202. 

Province, first Roman, 52. 

Public lands in Italy, 78. 

Punic War, first, 42-51. 

second, 56-68. 
third, 73, 74. 

Pu-te'o-li, 92. 

Pyd'na, battle of, 71. 

Pyr'rhus, 38-40. 



INDEX. 



229 



Q 

Quaestor (kwes'tor), office of, 21, 

note. 
Quin-til'i-an, the rhetorician, 211. 

R. 

Rad-a-gai'sus, 163. 

Ram'nes, 4. 

Reg'u-lus, Atilius, 47, 49. 

Religion, Roman, 10-16. 

Re'mus, 17, 18. 

Rhe'a Syl'vi-a, 17. 

Rhe'gi-um, 44. 

Rhe'nus, river, 113. 

Roman Empire, extent of, under Au- 
gustus, 120; sale of, 146; final di- 
vision of, 160; Eastern, 161 ; clos- 
ing history of Western, 1 61-172. 

Rome, location of, 4; founding of, 4; 
hills of, 4; causes of rapid growth, 
6, note; classes of society during 
regal period, 5; early government, 
4; kings of, 6; sacked by the 
Gauls, 31; population of, 121 ; last 
triumph at, 162; ransom of, 164; 
sack of, by Alaric, 165; sack of, by 
the Vandals, 170. 

Rom'u-lus, 17, 18. 

Ros'trum, Roman, 7, note. 

Ru'bi-con, Ccesar crosses, 105. 

Rutulians, 7. 



Sabines, 18. 
Sa-gun'tum, 55. 
Sal'lust, 206. 
Sa-lo'na, 153. 
Samnite War, first, 35. 

second, 38. 

third, 38. 
Sam'ni-um, i. 



Sa'por, king of Persia, 149, note. 

Sar-din'i-a, 52. 

Sat'ur-na'li-a, 16, note. 

Saxons, 157. 

Scipio iE'mil-i-a'nus (Africanus Mi- 
nor), 76. 
Asiaticus, 70, 71. 
Publius Cornelius (Africanus 
Major), 66, 67, 68, 72. 

Se-ja'nus, 126. 

Sen'e-ca, 131, 208. 

Sen-ti'num, battle at, 38. 

Ser-to'ri-us, 93. 

Servile w^ars in Sicily, 77, 78, note. 

Ser'vi-us Tul'li-us, 6, 9. 

Se-ve'rus, Alexander, 148. 
Sep-tim'i-us, 146. 

Shiraz (she'raz), 149, note. 

Sib'yl-line books, 13. 

Sicily, island of, 2. 

Sil'a-rus, "defeat of gladiators at, 94. 

Slavery, Roman, 5, 77, 221. 

Social life among the Romans, 216- 
223. 

Social war in Italy, 85. 

So'ci-i, relations to Roman govern- 
ment, 85, note. 

Spain, civil war in, 93. 

Spar'ta-cus, 93. 

Sta'ti-us, 203, note. 

Stil'i-cho, 161, 162, 163, 164. 

Sue-to'ni-us, 135. 

Sue'vi, 167. 

Sulla, fights under Marius in Africa, 
S;^; secures command of Mithra- 
datic expedition, 87; brings war 
to a close, 90; return to Rome, 90; 
his proscriptions, 91; his death, 92. 

Sul-pic'i-us, Publius, orator, 204. 

Su'o-ve-tau-ril'i-a, 15. 

Syr'a-cuse, 64. 



230 



INDEX. 



T. 

Tac'i-tus, the historian, 207. 
Tad'mor (see Palmyra). 
Ta-ren'tum, 38, 40. 
Tar-pe'i-an Rock, 34, note. 
Tar-quin'i-us Pris'cus, 6. 

Su-per'bus, 6, 10. 
Tel'a-mon, battle near, 54. 
Te-lem'a-chus, monk, 163. 
Ter'ence, 195. 

Teu'to-nes, defeated by Marius, 83, 84. 
Thap'sus, battle of, 108. 
Theatres, Roman, 177. 
The-od'o-ric the Visigoth, 168. 
The'o-do'si-us the Great, 160. 
Ther'mse, Roman, 184. 
Thirty Tyrants, Age of the, 149. 
Ti-be'ri-us, Roman emperor, 123- 

127. 
Ti-bul'lus, 202. 
Ti-ci'nus, battle of the, 59. 
Ti'tus, captures Jerusalem, 132; reign 

of, 133; Arch of, 188. 
Ti'tus Ta'ti-us, 19. 
Tiv'o-li, 186. . 

Trajan, Roman emperor, 135. 
Tras-i-me'nus, Lake, battle of, 59. 
Tre'bi-a, battle of, 59. 
Tri-bo'ni-an, Roman jurist, 215. 
Tribunes, Roman, 23. 
Tri-um'vi-rate, First, 10 1; renewed, 

103; Second, 112. 
Truceless war, 54. 
Tul'lus Hos-til'i-us, 6. 
Twelve tables of Roman law, 26. 



U. 



Ul'pi-an, 214. 
Um'bri-a, i. 
Utica, 74. 



V. 

Va'lens, Roman emperor, 157, 158, 

160. 
Val'en-tin'i-an, Roman emperor, 157, 

158. _ 
Va-le'ri-an, Roman emperor, 149, 

note. 
Va-le'ri-us, Pub'li-us, 22. 
Van'dals, 167, 170. 
Var'ro, 208. 
Varro, Gaius Te-ren'ti-us, consul, 62, 

note. 
Va'rus, defeated by Hermann, 122. 
Veii (ve'yi), siege of, 30. 
Ven'e-ti, 102. 
Ve-ne'ti-a, i. 
Ver-cel'lae, battle of, 85. 
Ver'cin-get'o-rix, 103. 
Ver'res, abuses of, 95. 
Vespasian ( ves-pa'zhi-an ), Roman 

emperor, 1 31-133. 
Ves'ta, temple of, 8; worship of, 12. 
Villas, Roman, 186. 
Vin'do-bo'na, 142. 
Virginia, 28. 
Virgil, 198-201. 
Vir'i-a'thus, 76. 
Vis'i-goths, 158. 

Vi-tel'li-us, Roman emperor, 131. 
Volscians, 25. 

W. 

Women, social position of, among the 
Romans, 217. 

X. 

Xan-thip'pus, 47, note. 

Z. 

Za'ma, battle of, 67. 
Zela, battle of, 108. 
Ze-no'bi-a, 150. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



HISTORY. 



Outlines of Mediceual and Modern History. 

By P. V. N. Myers, A.M., President of Belmont College, Ohio; Authoi 
of Outlines of Ancient HistorTj, and Remains of Lost Empires. 12mo. 
Half Morocco, xii + 740 pages. With colored maps, reproduced, bj 
permission, from Freeman's Historical Atlas. Mailing Price, $1.65; 
for introduction, S1.50. Allowance for a book in exchange, 40 cents. 

rpmS work aims to blend in a single narrative accounts of the 
social, political, literary, intellectual, and religious 
developments of the peoples of mediaeval and modern 
times, — to give in simple outline the story of civilization since 
the meeting, in the fifth century of our era, of Latin and Teuton 
upon the soil of the Roman Empire in the West. The author's 
conception of History, based on the definitions of Ueberweg, that 
it is the unfolding of the essence of spirit, affords the key-note to 
the work. Its aim is to deal with the essential elements, not the 
accidental features, of the life of the race. 

Unity and cohesion are secured by grouping facts according to 
the principles of historic development, and while the analysis 
is rigid and scientific, the narrative will be found clear, continuous, 
interesting, and suggestive. 



W. F. Allen, Prof, of History, 
University of Wisconsin : Mr. Myers' 
book seems to me to be a work of 
high excellence, and to give a re- 
markably clear and vivid picture of 
mediaeval history. 

E. B. Andrews, Prof, of History 
and Political Economy, Brown Uni- 
versity, Providence, R.I. : It seems 
certain to take its place as one of the 
most serviceable books of its kind 
before the school and college public. 
<Jan. 6, 1887.) 



Geo. W. Knight, Prof, of History, 
Ohio State University : The author 
seems to have gotten hold of the 
active princij)le, the leading motives 
and tendencies of each age ; to have 
taken a comprehensive view of the 
development of man's ideas, of na- 
tions, and of governments. Then he 
has grouped the various events in 
such a way as will bring clearly to 
view these different phases of the 
world-development without ignoring 
what may be called the collateral 
events. 



114 



HISTORY. 



The Eastern Nations and Greece. 

(Part I. of Myers and Allen's Ancient History.) 

By P. V. N. Myers, President of Belmont College, Ohio. Author of 
Mediseval and Modern History, etc. 12mo. Cloth, ix + 369 pages. 
Mailing Price, fl.lO; for Introduction, ^1.00; Allowance for an old 
hook in exchange, 25 cents. 

npHIS is a revision and expansion of the corresponding part of 
the author's Outlines of Ancient History. It embraces the his- 
tory of the Egyptians, Assyrio-Babylonians, Hebrews, Phoenicians, 
Lydians, Medes and Persians, and Greeks. 

The chapters relating to the Eastern nations have been written 
in the light of the most recent revelations of the monuments of 
Egypt and Babylonia. The influence of Oriental civilization upon 
the later development of the Western peoples has been fully indi- 
cated. It is shown that before the East gave a religion to the 
West it had imparted many primary elements of art and general 
culture. This lends a sort of epic unity to series of events and 
historic developments too often regarded as fragmentary and un- 
related, and invests the history of the old civilizations of the 
Orient with fresh interest and instruction. 

In tracing the growth of Greek civilization, while the value of 
the germs of culture which the Greeks received from the older 
nations of the East is strongly insisted upon, still it is admitted 
that the determining factor in the wonderful Greek development 
was the peculiar genius of the Greek race itself. 

The work is furnished with chronological summaries, colored 
maps, and numerous illustrations drawn from the most authentic 
sources. 



Arthur Latham Perry, Prof, of 

History, Williams College, Williams- 
town, Mass. : I have read every word 
of Myers' Eastern Nations and 
Greece, and wish to express my sense 
of the great skill and elegance with 
which has heen condensed into a 
single small volume all that is really 
most important to be known of the 
early nations, in such a way that the 
memory can easily hold it, and that 
the mind is satisfied at once with the 



facts selected and the taste exhibited 
in handling them. {Oct. 24, 1889.) 

I. T. Beckwith, Prof, of Greek, 
Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. : 
The book seems to me remarkable in 
its comprehensiveness, and likewise 
in the clearness and life with which 
it presents the leading facts in each 
great movement. I think it far more 
interesting and useful than any other 
epitome of the kind which I have 
seen. (OcM9, 1889.) 



HISTORY. 



117 



Cnaries S. Walker, Prof, of Mental 
and Political Science, Massachusetts 
Agricultural College, Amherst : He 
presents the facts in their relation to 
the art, commerce, government, and 
civilization of mankind so as to at- 
tract attention in the very beginning 
and hold it to the end. The most re- 
cent discoveries of facts and the best 
methods of presentation are utilized. 

George C. Chase, Prof, of Rhetoric, 
Bates College, Lewiston, Me. : I find 
it unlike other works of its kind, 
thoroughly readable. The author has 
shown a sense of proportion seldom 
exhibited in books devoted to general 
history. (Ocf. 1, 1889.) 

Herbert Tuttle, Prof, of History, 
Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.: 
The author gives due proportion to 
countries, ages, and movements, 
states the facts with adequate clear- 
ness, and, in particular, has produced 
a readable volume with distinct lit- 
erary merits, and not a mere cata- 
logue of dates and events. 

Jacob D. Cox, Pres. University of 
Cincinnati, 0. : The author has the 
great merit of abridging and con- 
densing a long narrative in such a 
way as to retain the interest and life 
of the story. 

Ang^e Clara Chapin, Prof, of 
Greek, Wellesley College, Mass. : It 
is a marvel of condensation, retain- 
ing, however, the breadth and inter- 
est of a fuller narrative. 
(Oct. 28, 1889.) 

Shailer Mathews, Prof, of His- 
tory, Colby Univ., Waterville, Me. : 
The statements are singularly clear 
and vivid ; the simplicity of its style 
and its generally picturesque char- 
acter seems to fit it especially for an 
elementary text>book. He seems to 



have been on the whole successful in 
avoiding disagreeable extremes. 
{Nov. 20, 1889.) 

A. H. Fetterolf, Pres. Girard Col- 
lege, Philadelphia, Pa. : Dr. Myers 
has succeeded in making not only a 
very instructive but also a very en- 
tertaining book. I keep it on my 
desk, and whenever I have a few mo- 
ments unoccupied I take it up, and I 
never turn to a page that does not 
have some things that interest me. 
The important events of the world's 
history are given in a nut-shell. I 
hope to have it placed on our list of 
text-books. ( Oc<. 9, 1889.) 

Miss Alice Gladden, Teacher of 
History, High School, Columbus, 
0. : I do not know of any general 
history so interesting and so well 
adapted to the needs of a high school 
class as this new work of Mr. Myers. 
{Nov. 22, 1889.) 

H. S. Kritz, Prin. Prep. Dept. 
Wabash Coll., Craiofordsville, Ind. : 
The author has successfully accom- 
plished a difiicult task — that of 
making a mere outline of history 
interesting. The selection and group- 
ing of the matter have been done 
with great judgment and taste, and a 
degree of unity and completeness has 
been secured rarely found in such 
works. The maps and illustrations 
add much to the convenience and 
utility of the book. The beautiful 
paper, clear type and substantial 
binding will all be appreciated. 
{Oct. 15, 1889.) 

A. J. Steele, Prin. Le Moyne Nor- 
mal Institute, Memphis, Teiin. : 
Myers' is a most excellent book and 
is securing results in the study that 
we have never before obtained. 
{Nov. 15, 1889.) 



118 



HISTORY. 



Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages. 

From the Battle of Adrianople to the death of Charlemagne (a.d. 
S78-814:) . By Ephraim Emerton, Professor of History in Harvard Uni- 
versity. 12mo. Cloth, xviii + 268 pages. Mailing Price, $1.25 ; for 
introduction, f 1.12. 

npHIS work aims to give, in simple narrative form, an account of 
tlie settlement of the Germanic peoples on E,oman soil, the 
gradual rise of the Frankish supremacy, the growth of the Chris- 
tian Church and its expression in the monastic life and in the 
Roman Papacy, and finally the culmination of all in the Empire of 
Charlemagne, The text is supplemented with maps, lists of works 
for reference, accounts of the contemporaneous material on which 
the narrative is based, and suggestions to teachers upon topics and 
methods of special study. 

Contents : Chapter I. The Romans to a.d. 375. H, The Two Races. 
in. The Breaking of the Frontier by the Visigoths. IV. Vandals and 
Burgundians. V. Invasion of the Huns. VI. The Germans in Italy. 
VII. The Franks to 638. VIII. Germanic Ideas of Law. IX. Rise of the 
Christian Church. X. Franks and Mohammedans. Dagobert to Charles 
Martel. XI. The Monks of the West. XII. The Franks from Charles 
Martel to Charlemagne. XIII. Charlemagne King of the Franks. 
XIV. Foundation of the Mediaeval Empire. XV. The Beginnings of the 
Feudal System. 



George P. Fisher, Prof, of Eccle- 
siastical History , Yale College: It is 
an admirable guide to both teachers 
and pupils in the tangled period of 
which it treats. The work is the 
fruit of diligent investigation; it is 
concise, but, at the same time, lucid 
and interesting. 

Anson D. Morse, Prof, of History 

Historia do Brazil. 



and Political Economy, Amherst 
College : It is excellent, and I shall 
recommend it to my classes. 

P. V. N. Myers, President Belmont 
College, Ohio : I have read the book 
with great interest. It is a work 
of rare historical insight. ... The 
book is indispensable to any student 
of the history of the Mediaeval Ages. 



Resume da Historia do Brazil, para uso das escolas primarias Brazileiras. 
Pela Professora Maria G. L. de Andrade. 12mo. Cloth, x + 231 
pages. Illustrated. Mailing Price, 85 cents; for Introduction, 75 cents. 

T^HIS is a history of Brazil from the earliest times to the year 
1848, written in the Portuguese language. It is believed to be 
the best work of its kind extant, and will be found also an excel- 
lent reading-book for students of Portuguese. 



HISTORY. 119 

The Leading Facts of English History. 

By D. H. Montgomery. New edition. Rewritten and enlarged, with 
Maps and Tables. 12mo. Cloth. 448 pages. Mailing Price, $1.25. 
Introduction Price, $1.12; Allowance for old book. 35 cents. 

npHE former edition has been rewritten, as it had become evi- 
dent that a work on the same plan, but more comprehensive, 
and better suited to prevailing courses and methods of class-work, 
would be still more heartily welcomed. 

Important events are treated with greater fulness, and the rela- 
tion of English History to that of Europe and the world is carefully 
shown. References for further study are added. 

The text is in short paragraphs, each with a topical heading in 
bold type for the student's use. The headings may be made to 
serve the purpose of questions. By simply passing them over, the 
reader has a clear, continuous narrative. 

The treatment of each reign is closed with a brief summary of 
its principal points. Likewise, at the end of each period there is a 
section showing the condition of the country, and its progi*ess in 
Government, Religion, Military Affairs, Learning and Art, General 
Industry, Manners and Customs. These summaries will be found 
of the greatest value for reference, review, and fuller study ; but 
when the book is used for a brief course, or for general reading, 
they may be omitted. 

No pains have been spared to make the execution of the work 
equal to its plan. Vivid touches here and there betray the author's 
mastery of details. Thorough investigation has been made of all 
points where there was reason to doubt traditional statements. The 
proof-sheets have been carefully read by two experienced high- 
school teachers, and also by two college professors of history. 

The text is illustrated wnth fourteen maps, and supplemented 
with full genealogical and chronological tables. 

It is believed that this book will be acknowledged superior — 

1. In interest. 2. In accuracy. 

3. In judicious selection of matter. 

4. In conciseness combined with adequacy. 

5. In philosophical insight free from speculation or theorizing. 

6. In completeness. 

7. In availability as a practical class-room book. 



120 



HISTORY. 



Send for tlie special circular, from -wliich. are taken 
the following Representative Opinions : — 

Hon. E. J. Phelps, United States 
Minister to Great Britain: In my 
opinion, the author has done ex- 
tremely well a much-needed work, 



in presenting in so terse, clear, and 
available form the principal points 
in that greatest of all histories, the 
common property and most useful 
study of the English-speaking race. 

Professor Goldwin Smith: The 
book, besides being very attractive 
in appearance, seems to be very suit- 
able for the purpose in view, viz., to 
present school pupils with a clear 
and intelligent idea of the main facts 
of English history in connection with 
the social and industrial development 
of the nation. 

E. B. Andrews, Prof, of History, 
Brown University : I do not remem- 
ber to have seen any book before 
which sets forth the leading facts of 
English History so succinctly, and 
at the same time so interestingly 
and clearly. 

A. L. Perry, Prof, of Political 
Economy, Williams College : I have 
never seen anything at all equal to 
it for the niche it was intended to fill. 

J. B. Clark, Prof, of History, Smith 
College: 1 especially like its intro- 
duction of matter relating to the life 
of the people, in a way that seems to 
make the narrative less dry, rather 
than more so, as so often happens. 

Jas. F. Colby, Prof, of Law and 

Political Science, Dartmouth Col- 
lege : Its title is a true description of 
its contents. Its author shows sense 
of proportion, and wisely gives prom- 
inence to economic facts and the 
development of constitutional prin- 
ciples. (Ocf. 27,1887.) 

P. V. N. Myers, Pres. of Belmont 
College : The book was an admirable 



one as first issued, but the careful 
revision and the addition of maps and 
tables have added greatly to its value. 
In my judgment it is by far the best 
English History for school-room use 
now before the public. 

W. F. Allen, Prof, of History, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, Madison: As 
I have said in relation to the earlier 
edition, the author has succeeded in 
an unusual degree in telling the story 
of English History in an interesting 
and suggestive manner, keeping clear 
of the prevailing fault of loading his 
pages with unessential names and 
dates. (Nov. 22, 1887.) 

F. B. Palmer, Principal of State 
Normal School, Fredonia, N.Y.: I 
have not examined anything that 
seems to me equal to it for a class in 
English History. 

John Fiske, Prof, of History, 
Washington University: It seems 
to me excellent. 

Francis A. Cooke, Teacher of 
History, Penn Charter School, Phil- 
adelphia, Pa. : My verdict on Mont- 
gomery's History is unqualified 
approval. I have not seen a text- 
book upon English History so well 
adapted to school use. 

C. B. Gilbert, Prin. of High School, 
St. Paul, Minn. : In many respects I 
consider it the best text-book on 
English History for high schools that 
I have seen. Its arrangement is ex- 
cellent, its style clear and very at- 
tractive. {Nov. 22, 1887.) 

Frank E. Plummer, Prin. of High 
School, Des Moines, la. : I examined 
it very carefully, and pronounce it 
the best English History for high- 
school use of any with which I am 
familiar. (Nov. 29, 1887.) 



HISTORY. 



121 



The Leading Facts of French History. 

By D. H. Montgomery, Author of The Leading Facts of English His- 
tory, English History Reader, etc. 12mo. Cloth, vi + 321 pages, with 
fourteen black and colored maps, and full tables. Mailing Price, $1.25; 
for Introduction, $1.12. 

T^HE object of this volume is to present, within the moderate 
compass of two hmidred and ninety-two pages, the most im- 
portant events of the history of France, selected, arranged, and 
treated according to the soundest principles of historical study, 
and set forth in a clear and attractive narrative. 

The respective influences of the Celtic race, and of the Roman 
and the German conquest and occupation of Gaul are clearly 
shown. 

Charlemagne's work and the subsequent growth of feudal insti- 
tutions are next considered. 

The breaking up of the feudal system, with the gradual consoli- 
dation of the provinces into one kingdom, and the development of 
the sentiment of nationality, are traced and illustrated. 

The growth of the absolutism of the crown, the interesting and 
important relations of France to America, and the causes of the 
French Revolution, are fully presented. 

The career of Napoleon and its effects on France and Europe 
are carefully examined. 

Finally, a sketch is given of the stages of the historical progress 
of France in connection with the state of the Republic to-day. 



G. W. Knight, Prof, of History, 
Ohio State University : I do not 
know another book which, in any- 
thing like the same space, conveys 
for youthful students so good a no- 
tion of French events. 

A. H. Fetterolf, Pres. of Girard 
College : I like it very much. It is 
an excellent book and I trust soon to 
have it used in Girard College. 

Edward G. Bourne, Prof, of His- 
tory, Adelbert College: I have no 
hesitation in pronouncing it the best 
French history of its scope that I 
bave seen. It is clear and accurate, 



and shows unusual skill in the selec- 
tion of matter as well as judgment 
in emphasizing the political signifi- 
cance of events. 

The Nation, Heio York : It is a 
marked advance on any available 
work of its scope. The author has 
shown competent judgment in the 
choice of his facts and his style is 
clear and interesting. The propor- 
tions are well observed, and the po- 
litical significance of events is given 
due prominence in his treatment. 
So far as wa have noticed, unuFual 
accuracy has been achieved. 



122 



HISTORY. 



English History Reader. 

By D. H. Montgomery. 12mo. Cloth, xxxiv + 254 pages, with a 
colored map. Mailing Price, 85 cents ; for introduction, 75 cents. 

rpHIS is the first edition of Montgomery's Leading Facts of Eng^ 
lish History. The book has clearly demonstrated its value for 
reading purposes, and the price has been reduced to make it gen- 
erally available for this use. 

W. P. Atkinson, Prof, of English ous, and the references seem to me 
and History, Massachusetts Institute very well selected. I cordially rec- 
of Technologij, Boston : It is that ommend it to all students and teach- 
uncommon kind of book, a readable ers of English history, 
short sketch. It is fresh and vigor- (^Jan. 3, 1886.) 

Pilgrims and Puritans. 

By Miss N. Moore. Square 16mo. Cloth, viii + 197 pages. Illustrated. 
Mailing Price, 70 cents ; for introduction, 60 cents. 

npmS is a book of easy reading, containing sketches of the early 
days of Massachusetts, — Massachusetts Indians, the Pilgrims 
of Plymouth, English Boston, William Blackstone, John Winthrop, 
Extracts from Wood''s New England's Prospect, with notes and 
appendix. 

It is intended for children who have not yet begun or are just 
beginning the study of United States History, and to supplement 
or prepare the way for the ordinary text-book. It has already 
been used by children under ten years of age. It is provided with 
maps and illustrations. 

The Reader's Guide to English History. 

By William Francis Allen, A.M., Professor in the University of 
Wisconsin. Long 8vo. Paper. 50 pages. Mailing Price, 30 cents ; 
Introduction, 25 cents. The Supplement can be had separately; Mailing 
Price, 10 cents. 

nPHE arrangement is that of four parallel columns upon two 
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history. 



HISTORY. 



123 



Washington and His Country. 

By Washington Irving and John Fiske. 654 pages, including 13 maps. 
r2mo. Cloth: Mailing price, .^1.10; for introduction, $1.00. Boards: 85 
and 75 cents. QUESTIONS have been prepared to facilitate the use of 
the work as a text-book of United States history. Paper. 88 pages. 
Introduction price, 15 cents. 

nnHIS consists of Irving's Life of Washington, judiciously abridged 
by John Fiske, and supplemented with an Introduction and a 
Continuation by Mr. Fiske that make the work in effect a His- 
tory of the United States. It is anticipated that this History 
will be cordially welcomed and will exert a great influence upon 
present methods and courses of study. It will be found to com- 
bine many peculiar excellences. 

1 . History is taught through biography. This secures the great- 
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moral value. 

2. The history is presented in a readable outline. The salient 
points are fully and vividly set forth, and cannot fail to impress 
the memory and the imagination. 

3. The pupil has before him in this book the thought and lan- 
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4. The abridging and the supplementing have been done by one 
exceptionally competent. The Introduction and the Continuation 
are masterly sketches, unequalled by anything hitherto published. 

Thus, while acquiring a knowledge of facts and events, the pupil 
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a classic author, and ennobling his character by contemplating one 
of the grandest types of humanity. There will be less of mechani- 
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W. E. Buck, Supt. of Schools, 
Manchester, N.U. : I cannot think 
of another book so desirable for col- 
lateral reading by pupils studying 
history in the common schools. 

E. H. Russell, Prin. of Normal 
School, Worcester, Mass. : I have 
ordered a supply for class use. It 
seems to me the most noteworthy 
^ook that has appeared in this field 



for years. I recommend it right and 
left without reserve. 

Thomas M. Balliet, Supt. of 
Schools, Sprinr/Jield, Mass. : It can 
be used as a text-book on U. S. 
History; and as a book for supple- 
mentary reading on the subject, I 
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to it. 
{Jan. 20, 1888.) 



HISTORY. 



Ccesar's Army. 



A study of the military art of the Romans in the last days of the Re- 
public. By Harry Pratt Judson, Professor of History, University of 
Minnesota. With illustrations and colored maps. 12mo. Cloth, x + 108 
pages. Mailing price, $1.10 ; to teachers and for introduction, $1.00. 

rpmS little book is an attempt to reconstruct Csesar's Army so 
as to give a clear idea of its composition and evolutions. It is 
hoped that students of Caesar's writings and students of military 
science alike may find interest in such a study. 

The Commentaries of Caesar are the story of his wars. They 
are military history. It is true that they were intended largely for 
civilian readers at Rome. Still, they imply throughout a certahi 
amount of military knowledge that all Roman citizens were sup- 
posed to have. The modern student can hardly be said to read 
understandingly, unless the text conveys to his mind the same 
idea that it conveyed to the intelligent Roman reader to whom 
Caesar addressed it. 



C. r. P. Bancroft, Prin. of Phillips 
Academy, Andover, Mass. : It makes 
the intelligent reading of Caesar pos- 
sible, and is itself worthy of inde- 
pendent study. (Sept. 5, 1888.) 

Ray Greene Huling, Prin. of 
High School, New Bedford, Mass. : 



It is, I believe, the best as well as 
the latest presentation of the mili- 
tary art in Caesar's time. I cannot 
conceive of a teacher of classes in 
this author who will not obtain the 
book as soon as he knows how ser- 
viceable it is. (June 6, 1888.) 



Topics in Ancient History. 

Arranged for use in Mt. Holyoke Seminary and College. By Clara W. 
Wood, Professor of History. Square 12mo. Paper. 45 pages. Mailing 
price, 20 cents ; for introduction, 15 cents. 

rpHE object of this little work is to suggest and help topical 
study. The alternate pages of the book are devoted to a series 
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Halsey's Genealogical and Ciironological Oliart 

of the Rulers of England, Scot/and, France, Germany, and Spain. 

By C. S. Halsey, Principal of Schenectady (N.Y.) Classical School. 
Revised edition, brought down to 1884. Printed on tough rope paper. 
33 X 50 inches. Introduction and Mailing price, 25 cents. 



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